The country’s premier mapping agency, Survey of India, would soon begin work on mapping and surveying River Ganga to determine the sources of pollution along its basin. This ambitious project is pegged at an estimated cost of Rs542 crore.
The work will start from its point of origin at Gangotri to the place it joins Bay of Bengal. Various strategic points will be covered along the 2.5 lakh sq km of Ganga basin area. The work is expected to begin within the next two months. It will be taken up as part of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, which is responsible for cleaning up the river.
The original time frame proposes the completion of the work in two years. However, it is being planned to be completed in one-and-half years, given the urgency of the situation.
In order to clean-up a large river like Ganga it is very essential to first pinpoint from where is the pollution originating for which a detailed survey is required, pointed out the sources. As per the mandate of the work, the entire river would be surveyed and the agents/ sources of pollution will be mapped accordingly.
The work will be more exhaustive and detailed as compared to the surveys in the past. It will include every establishment including even smaller units as households apart from industries and other polluting agencies, said the sources.
The survey work involves other components like photography from air, ‘lidar’ imagery and determining the river depth survey which will be outsourced. There is scope for PPP model, as the the maps would be produced in digital form. Prominent IT companies are expected to be tagged on to the project in this regard.
Recently, a parliamentary panel had urged the Government to ensure that the Clean Ganga Mission gets implemented by 2020. The panel had noted that it was deeply distressed to observe that the Ganga, “considered to be the holiest of rivers by millions, has become one of the five most-polluted rivers of the world.”
In its 2014-15 report on ‘Water Pollution in India’, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has also recommended that appropriate riverfront development needs to be drawn up with the involvement of the private sector and civil society.