While there are much expectations from the proposed first meeting of inter ministerial group on Ganges, which will finalise the draft for cleaning of the national river, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate change (MoEFC) is gearing up for the most challenging task ahead. It pertains to the cleaning of the polluted river.
According to the estimates of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) as against the release of 3,000 million litres of sewerage into the river water daily, only 1,000 million litres sewerage is treated. Experts further pointed out that both the flow and quantity of the river has reduced due to large number of dams in the upper stream of the river in Uttarakhand.
Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti has been given a dedicated portfolio of Ganga Rejuvenation by Modi. According to sources, NGRBA, which is presently under MoEFC, is likely to be transferred to Water Resources Ministry. Bharti has sought the data and files in this regard from NGRBA.
While the five Ministries viz — Water Resources, Environment, Shipping, Tourism and Power will work in coordination to fulfil Modi’s commitment to rejuvenate the river, MoEFC faces an uphill task. Even after nearly `100 crore being spent under the NGRBA that comprised laying sewer lines in Varanasi, the results are far from satisfactory.
According to sources, this is largely because there is discharge of nearly 200 million litres per day (MlD) of untreated sewage into the river and there are not enough sewage treatment plants. The city generates a total of 300 million litres of sewage every day with only one STP (of a capacity of 102 MlD) for its treatment.
According to the official data, NGRBA is currently working on 57 projects of sewerage treatment plant with combined capacity to treat 470.53 million litres of sewerage in a day. About 15 projects are underway in Uttarakhand, seven in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar and 27 in West Bengal. Further, three projects of Central Pollution Control Board are also under construction.
However, even if efforts are on to control pollution, certain experts argued that the main problem with Ganges is not just pollution. But drop in quantity and flow of the river has led to siltation and decrease in the depth of the river. Encroachment, along the riverbed, has further constricted the river. “Hence in many places, it is not a river but a pond. This has reduced its capacity of self generation/purification. Hence, even if there was less pollution in the river, it will not improve water quality. According to them, “the quantity of (original) water of Ganges, would in fact be less than 1% in Varanasi”.