In the past three decades, many crores of rupees have been spent on works to make the Ganga river clean but the river remains polluted especially in the plains of Uttarakhand. Now once again with budgetary allocation being made, attempts have started to clean the Ganga.
In its state of origin, the Ganga is considerably clean especially in the mountains but its waters become polluted once it reaches the plains in Haridwar and then to other states--Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. During its journey the quality of its water is affected by the cities which are located on its banks. Ganga is polluted not only by the industrial effluent but also by the sewage lines which empty untreated waste into the river.
The State Government has often claimed that all drains emptying into Ganga shall be tapped before January 2019 and roads in Haridwar would be free of stray cattle before the onset of Kumbh Mela in 2021. But the grim reality is that till date the work of tapping drains falling into Ganga river is pending. The Haridwar district magistrate assures that the tapping of drains will be done soon though how long it will take is yet to be specified. Deadlines have not been met in the past years, making delay in such important works develop into an annual trend. Observers point out that the claims being made by the officials are far from reality. Various drains have continued to empty in to the Ganga river for years now. The Kassaban drain which empties waste in to Ganga in Jwalapur area too awaits tapping since long. The sewerage treatment plant under construction for the same was started two years ago but the work is still going on. The then minister for Ganga Rejuvenation, Uma Bharti had also assured many times that tapping of all drains emptying in to the Ganga would be completed by 2018 but the waste water continues to be drained in to the river untreated.
Having spent crores of rupees in the name of Ganga cleaning, the government has still not been able to tap the biggest waste water drain of Kassaban. About 70 nalas (drains) are emptying into the river out of which main drains still remain to be tapped.
A local resident of Jwalapur, Naeem Qureshi said, “The capacity of the sewage treatment plant is not that much to enable it to treat the whole volume of water released in drain. Especially in rainy season when other drains also unite, the swelled up drain pours out untreated waste into the Ganga river.”
Notably, the first attempt to clean the Ganga river was made in 1984 under Ganga Action Plan. Funds were spent on works including the tapping of drains, laying of sewer lines, construction of sewage treatment plants and other works.
When asked about this, the district magistrate of Haridwar, Deepak Rawat said, “The work of tapping of waste water drain is going on and many have been tapped but it is of no use till the capacity of STP is increased. Kassaban nala has been tapped and very soon the sewage treatment plant work shall be completed. Some works shall be completed by December this year and others till March next year.”