Giving a new thrust to Namami Gange programmes, the Government is set to introduce trash skimmers for surface cleaning of Ganga in six more cities in the first week of this month. New projects have been approved in Varanasi and Haridwar as well, which include the deployment of sewage treatment plants in various capacities.
The new cities that will acquire trash skimmers include Rishikesh, Haridwar, Garh Mukhteshwar, Sahibganj, Kolkata and Navdweep. As per the officials, the urban local bodies will be the nodal agency to monitor the work. State Programme Management Groups and Collectorate office will be supervising these works under the aegis of Namami Gange at State and district level respectively. Trash skimmers are used to collect and dispose floating waste was collected and disposed off in an organised manner.
The work of river surface cleaning work was introduce last year in Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi, Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh and Patna in Bihar. More towns will be identified for carrying out similar activities later this year.
Meanwhile, spreading its network of Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP), Namami Gange has approved two new systems at Haridwar and one in Varanasi. Haridwar will get 68 Million litres / Day (MlD) sewage treatment plant in Jagjeetpur and 14 MlD STP in Sarai at an estimated cost of Rs 110.30 crore and Rs 25 crore respectively under Hybrid Annuity based PPP mode.
Apart from this, Rs 8.34 crore has been allocated for tertiary treatment of existing 27 MlD plant in Jagjeetpur, Rs 5.32 crore has been allocated for tertiary treatment of existing 18 MlD plant in Sarai under Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) mode. Also, I&D works at Jagjeetpur and Sarai would be done at an indicative cost of Rs 81.15 crore and Rs 29.75 crore respectively under DBOT mode.
In another development, in-principle approval has also been granted for the implementation of 50 MlD sewage treatment plant at Ramana in Varanasi at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore under Hybrid Annuity-based PPP mode.
The Clean Ganga Mission spans across five major Ganga basin States including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The programme envisages River Surface Cleaning, Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure, River Front Development, Bio-Diversity, Afforestation and Public Awareness.