The consortium of seven IITs, which prepared the Ganga River Basin Management Plan-2015 (GRBMP-2015), has pointed out to the overuse of natural resources of the basin and highlighted issues like discharge of pollutants into terrestrial and aquatic environments, reduction in water-holding capacities and replenishment of water bodies among others.
The Water Resources Ministry, for its part, launched Nirmal Ganga Sahbhagita, which is an initiative to assist the Urban local Bodies (UlBs) and Executing Agencies located on the banks of the Ganga for achieving the objective of Clean Ganga.
Throwing light on the high population density of the Ganga basin the report by the IITs highlighted the strong demand and competition for natural resources, including water for domestic use and irrigation, and most of the basin tributaries are regulated by barrages. Fisheries along the river are of considerable economic value and their output makes a major contribution to regional nutritional needs.
To add to the above, 260 million litres of industrial wastewater, also largely untreated, are discharged by hundreds of factories, while other major pollution inputs include runoff from the more than 6 million tonnes of chemical fertilisers and 9,000 tonnes of pesticides applied annually within the basin.
The report also cautioned against mutilation of rivers by piecemeal engineering operations besides threats to geological processes in the basin.
It called for maintaining environmental flows in all rivers and tributaries of the Ganga River System to fulfil their geological, ecological, socioeconomic and cultural functions. The report emphasised that all existing, ongoing and planned anthropogenic activities in the river basin shall be reviewed or scrutinised in a transparent, inclusive manner with consensus of all affected people and stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Nirmal Ganga Sahbhagita, aimed at sensitising the UlBs on the pollution in the Ganga arising primarily due to dumping of solid waste in the river/nallas and to involve them in a long term engagement in stoppage of the solid waste flow from nallas/drains to the river.
The expenditure on cleaning the Ganga during 2015-16 (till Oct 31, 2015) is Rs760 crore, Rs326.95 crore in 2014-15, besides Rs303.95 crore in 2013-14 and Rs191.52 crore in 2012-13 respectively. This was informed by Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti in a written reply in the lok Sabha on Thursday.