The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is planning to set up its units at the State and district levels to keep tab over illegal sand mining on the riverbed and discharge of untreated water into the river.
These units will be granted prosecution powers against illegal miners and polluters and help in percolating the goals of the Mission at the grass root.
The district level bodies will be empowered to act on the such complaints and also enforce the decisions taken by the NMCG and National Ganga Council (NGC), said senior officials. The provisions would be worked out, as per section 5 of NMCG Act. Accordingly, the Ministry of Water Resources, can order closure of polluting industries, cancellation of license of sand miners and impose complete ban on sand mining in the area to ensure ecological health of Ganga and its tributaries.
They would be known as “Ganga Councils”, said the sources. Eleven of them would be constituted at the state level to work in coordination with the respective state pollution control boards. likewise, at the district level, these Ganga councils will coordinate with districts along the banks of the national river.
Elaborating on further plans of river during the coming months , the sources informed that assessment and feasibility reports on discharge of untreated water in the Ganga are getting ready for 118 cities located . As per the upcoming plans, each city will be provided sewage treatment plant (STPs). Those that already have would be upgraded to improve quality of discharged water, they said.
The new STPs are being constructed on Hybrid BOT (Built, Operate, and Transfer) Model under the concessionaire will be paid 40 percent of the cost on commissioning of the project while remaining 60 percent will be reimbursed in 15 years.
The sources admitted that the quality of STPs earlier was indeed poor and concessionaires did not share responsibility or accountability. But as per Hybrid BOT system, they will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the project for 15 years, sources clarified.