Union Minister of Water Resources and River Development Uma Bharti on Tuesday allocated Rs 80 cr to upgrade the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Jagjeetpur. She was in Haridwar to inspect the drainage lines which end up directly or indirectly into the Ganga, sans proper treatment. During her visit, she inspected the drainage lines at Khanpur and Jagjeetpur area under Haridwar district. She directed the project director to send separate proposals for these lines. The allocation of Rs80 crore for the up-gradation of the sewage treatment plant at Jagjeetpur would step up the capacity of the plant from 24MlD to 50 MlD, it is learnt.
While interacting with the media persons, she said that initially Rs200 crore had been granted for Namami Gange project and the amount was later increased to Rs20, 000 crore. The Union Cabinet has already put its seal on the matter by way of confirmation, she said. Notably, three meetings have been held till date on the Ganga cleaning project. Namami Gange project was conceptualised in October 2014. After the first phase that would run into around two years is over, the second round involving implementation would begin from October 2016. “It is totally a Centrally financed scheme with the States having nothing to contribute,” the Union minister said, adding that the positive outcome of the ambitious project would be visible in the next four/five years. She said her department has asked rural development, urban development and industry development departments to work in sync to ensure that the project is implemented the way it is intended across the country.
She added that a special eco task force consisting of 2000 jawans will be formed. It would be known as Ganag Volunteer Core (GVC). It would be tasked to see river front development. “The proposal would be tabled in the Cabinet soon for approval,” Bharti said, adding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pretty serious about the project. “He keeps saying to all the MPs that narrow brand of politics should not be allowed to scupper nation development,” she said.
Dwelling on Uttarakhand, Bharti said that she had already met the Chief Minister Harish Rawat in Delhi and has urged him to send proposals for cleaning of Ganga at Badrinath and Gangotri areas. “My department is committed to push things fast as far as the preparations for the upcoming Ardh Kumbh 2016 scheduled in Haridwar is concerned. But the State Government must send the proposals in time,” she said when quizzed over the Centre’s stance vis-à-vis the grand religious congregation in terms of fund allocation.
As regards the ambitious project of interlinking of rivers as initiated by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, works on linking seven pairs of major rivers are nearly completed, the Union minister said. She said the previous UPA Government was to blame for the project not being completed as yet. “Had things been taken forward in the right spirit the farmers across the country would have been far better,” she said.
States like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have already lent their support of Namami Gange project, she said. She asked the Congress-led State Governments to shed parochial politics and plunge headlong in the task of cleaning the Ganga through Namami Gange project. “If they continue blocking things they would be taught lessons,” Bharti warned.