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Fresh bid for cleaner Ganga
M Madhusudan
- Rs 15,000 crore for new project
- Curtains for Ganga Action Plan I, II
With Rs 3,000 crore already down the drain in a bid to clean up the Ganga, Yamuna and three other rivers in Tamil Nadu over the last three decades, the newly-constituted National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) on Monday approved a new ‘Mission Clean Ganga’ with a whopping estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crore over the next 10 years.
This will bring the curtains down on Ganga Action Plan (GAP) I and II, in which an amount of Rs 822 crore was spent. GAP-I was launched in 1985 and GAP-II in stages between 1993 and 1996.
While the latest status paper on river Ganga brought out by the Environment Ministry claims that GAP had been successful in preventing deterioration of the water quality, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had admitted during the Monsoon Session of Parliament that GAP and the Rs 1,200-crore Yamuna Action Plan were failures. "The true test for a layman would be whether the Ganga is cleaner than it was 20 years ago. The answer is a depressing no," he pointed out. In fact, a report drafted by Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh this year termed GAP "ill-conceived". A sum of Rs 800 crore — earmarked for cleaning up the Cauvery, Koovam and Vaigai rivers — also failed to produce the desired results.
"By 2020, the Mission aims to ensure that no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents enter the Ganga. Almost 75 per cent of Ganga’s pollution is due to municipal sewage and 25 per cent because of industrial effluents. An estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crore will be required in the next 10 years. The Chief Ministers (of Bihar and Uttarakhand), who attended the meeting, wanted all the money from the Centre. I suggested a 70:30 ratio. Hence, the Prime Minister has asked the Planning Commission to look into it," Ramesh told mediapersons after the NGRBA meeting. The Prime Minister heads the new authority.
Lack of funds and resources in the States was one of most important reasons for the river cleaning projects failing. The Centre is now depending on the World Bank to provide it with a $1 billion aid for the ‘Mission Clean Ganga’ project. "The World Bank president will visit India in the first week of December. Preliminary indications about the sanctioning of funds are positive. We will get $3 million very soon for the project preparation facility," Ramesh said.
But will the Rs 15,000 crore too not be wasted? "That’s why we will have a social audit. We want to make it a people’s movement," the Minister stated.
On the differences between GAP and ‘Mission Clean Ganga’, the Centre will take Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s suggestion to ensure that the new project focuses on riverfront development and catchment area treatment, besides sewage treatment plants (STP). GAP had its stress only on STPs.
But Nitish was not too enthusiastic about the authority. Saying it needs re-examination, he added, "It seems to be grossly inadequate and does not serve the purpose for which it is designed." After the meeting, he said, "A comprehensive riverfront development is an important and integral aspect of river conservation and should not be looked as commercial development adding to pollution." He, however, lamented that Bihar’s power project proposals had not yet been approved by the Centre, which cited obligations under the India-Bangladesh Water Sharing Treaty. "The available data indicates that the lean season flow at Buxar, where the Ganga enters Bihar, is about 400 cusecs and rises steeply to about 1,500 cusecs at the point of leaving Bihar," he maintained.
The Centre has sought funds worth Rs 1,300 crore for STPs from the 13th Finance Commission and decided that, unlike GAP, the new Mission would be basin-centric and not town-centric. However, a sewage treatment capacity of only 1,000 million litres per day (mld) against 3,000 mld sewage generated has been created.
A comprehensive river basin management plan would be ready by December 2010; specific action plans for industrial pollution by January 31 next year even as States are required to prepare detailed project reports on critical pollution hotspots by November this year.
Accepting Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s request, the Centre has decided to set up a National Ganga Museum. Nishank said he had requested the Centre to give 1,000 mw of power free of cost and sought Rs 10,000 crore annually for the State’s development and maintenance of the Ganga and forests.
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal -- the five States through which the Ganga flows -- are members of the authority.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer; October 6, 2009)
(URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/207149/Fresh-bid-for-cleaner-Ganga.html )
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