In an attempt to make the Ganga river pollution-free in Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh government will replace the existing diesel engine boats with CNG-run boats soon.

The upgrade will be made at an estimated cost of Rs 34 crore and will be the first in the world on such a large scale.

Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agarwal told news persons in Lucknow on Friday that GAIL (India) Limited had taken up the responsibility of making the Ganga river free of pollution under Corporate Social Responsibility project.

Pegged at Rs 34 crore, as many as 1,700 small and big boats with CNG engines will be made operational. While a small CNG engine-fitted boat will cost around Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000, a big boat will come at a cost of Rs 2 lakh.

The boatmen will have to shell out a small amount for the changeover.

Deputy General Manager of GAIL (India) Limited, Gauri Shankar Mishra, said that 51 boats would be fitted with CNG engines at a cost of about Rs 1 crore in the first phase for which Datar stations were being built on the river ghats.

He said fuel dispensers had also been set up on the jetty and would become operational in a fortnight.

Former Director of Kashi Hindu University, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development and Coordinator of Mahamana Malviya Ganga Research Centre, Kavita Shah, said that poisonous carbon monoxide, sulphur, particulate matter and heavy metal were released when a diesel-engine boat cruised but in case of low-density CNG engines, the environment was hardly affected as the compressed natural gas was less toxic.