(This story originally appeared in on Mar 02, 2017)

NEW DELHI: Days after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar questioned the Centre’s approach towards cleaning the Ganga, the water resources ministry announced on Wednesday its move of awarding projects worth Rs 1,050 crore to private companies for setting up sewage treatment infrastructure in Patna in the next two to three years.The amount will be spent for setting up two Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), renovation of one existing STP, construction of two pumping stations and laying of new underground sewage network of over 400 km in the state’s capital.Kumar had on Saturday questioned the Centre’s approach saying the famed ‘Namami Gange’ programme focuses on cleanliness without taking care of the river’s uninterrupted flow — a prerequisite to keep the river clean.He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a conference on the Ganga, saying people were searching for the son of mother Ganga when he recently visited Varanasi. His remarks came amid growing restlessness over delay in implementing various projects on the ground.The Centre has, however, time and again enlisted what all it has been doing to clean the river under its ambitious Ganga rejuvenation plan in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.As far as the projects worth Rs 1,050 crore for Patna are concerned, the contracts also include the cost of operation and maintenance of STPs and sewage networks for a period of 10 years.“These projects not only aim to treat the current sewage generation in respective zones of Patna but also take into account the sewage estimates of next one decade, considering the expected rise of population in the city,” said an official.He said, “The progress of the construction will be monitored by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to ensure that the deadlines (of implementation and commissioning of projects) are met.”The contracts to build STP of 60 million litres per day (MLD) capacity and laying of new underground sewage network of 227 km in Saidpur zone of the city have been awarded to UEM India Pvt. Ltd and Jyoti Build Tech Pvt. Ltd at a total cost of Rs 600 crore.According to the ministry, three other firms — Larsen & Turbo Ltd, Voltas Ltd and GAA Germany JV — have been awarded separate projects in Beur zone of the city worth over Rs 450 crore to build one STP of 23 MLD, renovate existing STP of 20 MLD and lay down new underground sewage network of about 180 km.The scope of work also includes creation of main pumping stations of 83 MLD and 50 MLD capacity in Saidpur and Beur zones respectively.