Apart from the Clean Ganga Mission, plans are afoot to clean up its tributaries too. The Ministry for Ganga Rejuvenation has asked the pollution control boards to initiate action against industrial units discharging contaminated effluents in the Ganga.
Further, the Defence Ministry has agreed to raise one battalion of Ganga Task Force initially, comprising ex-servicemen who will be residing along the river for monitoring pollution.
In a written reply in the lok Sabha on Thursday, the Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Sanwar lal Jat, said that under the Ganga cleaning programme, the cleaning of the tributaries of the Ganga, including Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar, Ramganga and Kali was also underway. Total of 390 projects have been sanctioned so far. Highest number of 313 projects has been implemented on the Yamuna.
An amount of `528 crore has been earmarked for public participation, including towards raising of Ganga Task Force, for a five-year period (2015-2020). Till end of June, `91.75 lakh has been spent.
Total new capacity of Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) to be installed along the tributaries stands at 1,507.42 Million litres/Day (MlD), while capacity of 1,353.00 MlD are being revamped.
Work is also afoot on the River Front Development (RFD) Projects. The Minister informed the lok Sabha that under the Namami Gange programme, `250 crore has been earmarked for various RFD projects which are expected to be completed by 2020. The highest number of these projects is being implemented in West Bengal at 14 locations.
These projects help in control of liquid and solid waste pollution in places where large congregation of public takes place on the banks of the river for religious and tourism purposes. They also help to facilitate public convenience services as changing rooms, toilets, sitting area, besides undertaking general beautification of the area.
Responding to yet another query, the Minister informed the lower House that Germany, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Netherlands have expressed interest to support Ganga rejuvenation through knowledge/technology sharing and providing financial/technical assistance for cleaning up of the Ganga, capacity building, research and development, sharing of experiences, expertise and best practises.