Representative image.

NEW DELHI: The Centre has been focused on its ambitious Ganga rejuvenation plan but it has so far only launched entry-level activities, including modernisation/construction of ‘ghats’ (riverfronts), crematoria and surface cleaning.

Work on medium-term projects like municipal sewage and industrial effluent management through sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) have not yet picked up. The scale of the work, ensuring such facilities in as many as 118 towns/cities, needs massive coordination among five states through which the Ganga flows.

The list of the projects, which were launched on July 7 under phase-I of the ‘Namami Gange’ programme, shows that 193 out of 231 projects are related to ghats/crematoria development and surface cleaning. The list includes only eight STPs, one drain interceptor project and six pilot drain projects among other activities which will have long-term effects.

Though entry-level actives villagities are important and it will present some ‘visible’ change in the next 12 to 18 months, the government will be able to achieve the final and longterm goal of Ganga cleaning only after acting fast on its medium-term projects including STPs in 118 towns/cities.

According to details of the ‘Namami Gange’ programme, 32 out of 118 towns have so far been surveyed for the purpose while pre-feasibility reports of another 32 have been prepared. Besides, real-time effluent monitoring stations have been installed in 508 out of 764 grossly polluting industries along the Ganga and public outreach activities have been initiated in many villages in five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) along the river. These details are part of the presentation on ‘Namami Gange’ programme made by mission director of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Rajat Bhargava at a workshop organised by the high commission of Canada this month.

It is expected that the recently launched ‘smart Ganga cities’ plan will give a fillip to the government’s efforts to have adequate sewage treatment infrastructure in urban areas. The NMCG has chosen 10 cities — Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibganj and Barrackpore —for infrastructure development for sewage treatment under this plan.

This will be implemented on the hybrid annuity mode based on PPP model. In the hybrid annuity model, a part of capital investment (up to 40%) will be paid by government through construction linked milestones and the balance amount through an annuity over the contract duration up to 20 years to ensure longevity.

