Close on the heels of the Cabinet approving Rs20,000 crore for the Namami Gange Project, steps are afoot to invest Rs8,000 crore towards setting up of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to clean waste water in 118 towns. While work is on in 50 STPs, tenders will be invited for construction of 68 more such plants by next month in the five States of UP, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand located along the banks of the river.
The sewerage infrastructure would include interception, diversion and treatment of waste water flowing in the open either at the STPs or on-site. Repair and augmentation of the existing STPs, creation of new plants for treatment of 4,000 Million litres Per Day (MlD) of sewage generated from all towns are the other highlights. This, according to sources, is expected to cleanse at least 70 per cent of the river waters.
Further, for curbing 501 MlD of untreated effluents discharged by industries into the river, Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) would also be set up for major industrial clusters located along the river’s bank for a 15-year period of operation and maintenance. According to sources, while smaller units such as tanneries in Kanpur would be provided soft loans to set up their CETPs, the bigger units would not be provided any assistance.
Meanwhile, work on waste plants in eight prominent cities will begin in the next three months. These include Allahabad, Haridwar, Patna, Kanpur and Varanasi among others. Waste treatment capacity for four billion litres per day will be completed before 2019. The Government has sought donations from individuals and companies.
The project would also look into the cleaning of the ghats and surface pollution. It would deploy hi-tech systems like Trash Skimmer Machines, Aerators, River Surface Cleaning Boats and Arresting Booms. In the initial phase, eight towns including Patna, Sahibganj, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Haridwar, Varanasi and Nabadwip, would be taken up for setting up such systems.
The sources stressed that the focus of the project would be to create self-sustaining sources which would be achieved by according ownerships to urban local bodies and State agencies. This is essential to prevent the mistakes made during the Ganga Action Plan, in absence of involvement of local groups.