Uttarakhand Minister for Drinking water and education Mantri Parsad Naithani called on the Union Minister for Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti at Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi on Tuesday.
Naithani apprised her about the tough geographical conditions and huge damage occurred in the State because of deluge of June-2013. State Government had already sent the proposals concerning with restructure of Ganga Action Plan and other new plans for approval to Government of India.
Earlier, State Government had written a letter to the Ministry of Water Resource and River Development in this regard. He asserted that proposal of Rs980.28 lakhs regarding construction of damaged sewerage plans under the Ganga Action Plan in Gangotri, Uttarakashi and Devparyag cities had been approved by the empowered steering committee (ESC) in October 2014 but fund allocation is still awaited in this regard. He requested to release the above-mentioned fund at earliest.
Naithani said that proposal of estimated cost was of Rs210.53 Crore. For water plans in Gopeshwar, Joshimath and Shrinagar under the Namami Gange programme had already been sent to the Government of India for approval In this regard, it is to be mentioned, that maximum cities in the Uttarakhand have less than one lakh population. Gopeshwar, Joshimath and Shrinagar fall under this category.
There is no sewerage plan proposed by the centeral Urban Development Ministry, for these cities. Due to lack of sewerage system, untreated water of kitchens, bathrooms discharges directly into the Ganga River. Untreated waste water would not discharge in drains/ rivers directly, If sewer lines are sprat out across the cities, as a result River Ganga would not be polluted as much. Therefore Sewerage plans are expected necessarily approved so that pollution may be curbed in River Ganga.
Naithani informed the Central Minister that Muni-Ki-Reti-Dhalwala Scheme of Rs95.60 Cr had been approved by the Government of India on 20 September, 2013 in a sponsored program of Word Bank. But scheme was objected in the ESC meeting on 05 May, 2015. Muni-Ki-Reti and Dhalwala have population less that one lakh.
Hence, approved plan for this city should be as before. He demanded to approve all the proposals sent by the State Government regarding rejuvenation of River Ganga, so that works progress regarding rejuvenation may be fastened. Central Minister assured positive actions regarding above proposals.