'Sewage plants on Ganga being delayed due to land acquisition'

The process of setting up sewage treatment plants on the banks of the Ganga was getting delayed due to land acquisition and related issues, government said today.
"Even today, 3,000 million litres per day capacity of sewage treatment plants (STPs) need to be installed. STPs are delayed due to land acquisition and other reasons. But new projects will come," Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a query on the release of untreated sewage by 22 major ashrams along the river Ganga, he said the issue would be brought to the notice of the concerned authority.

He said the government has identified 110 cities where untreated sewage was being released into rivers or lakes and taking necessary steps for clean up.
On dumping of sewage into Ganga, the Minister said that 114 drains have been identified in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
Together, they discharged an average of 6614 million litres per day of sewage and industrial effluents, he said.