Projects sanctioned for conservation of 62 lakes: Govt

The government today said that it has so far sanctioned projects for conservation of 62 lakes in 14 states across the country.
Environment ministry Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that his ministry has been implementing a centrally sponsored scheme of National Lake Conservation Plan for conservation of polluted and degraded lakes in urban and semi-urban areas of the country.
He said that it being done on 70:30 cost sharing between central government and respective state government and 90:10 for North Eastern states.
"Based on the proposals received from different states, the ministry has so far sanctioned projects for conservation of 62 lakes in 14 states at a total cost of Rs 1041.96 crore under the scheme," Javadekar said.

"This includes four projects in Madhya Pradesh at a cost of Rs 87.41 crore. Out of these, conservation works for 27 lakes have been completed so far including one lake in Madhya Pradesh," he said.
He said that for better synergy and to avoid overlap, NLCP has been merged with another scheme of National Wetlands Conservation programme into one integrated scheme of National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco Systems for holistic conservation of lakes and wetlands during the XII plan period.

Replying to another question, Javadekar said that the Central Pollution Control Board has identified 150 polluted stretches along various rivers in the country based on BOD (Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand) level, a key indicator of organic pollution.

"According to the report published by CPCB in December 2009, against an estimated sewage generation of about 38,254 million litres per day from Class I cities and Class II towns of the country, the treatment capacity is available only for 11,787 mld which is around 30 per cent of sewage generation," Javadekar said.
He said that the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) programmes presently cover polluted stretches of 42 rivers in 199 towns spread over 21 states at a sanctioned cost of Rs 10716.45 crore.
Sewage treatment capacity of 4957.98 million litres per day has been created so far under these two programme, he added.