Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Ganga Rejuvenation, has stated that while the previous governments spent less than Rs 4,000 crore on Ganga cleaning programmes between 1985 and 2014, the present NDA government has sanctioned 254 projects for more than Rs 24,000 crore in the last four years.

Out of the sanctioned amount, over Rs 4,000 crore have been already spent on various cleaning projects along the river. Detailing the types of work undertaken, the minister noted, “Out of these 254 projects, 133 are for sewerage management, 11 bioremediation, one modular STP, 1 rural sanitation, 64 ghat and crematoria, 6 bio-diversity and 16 afforestation projects.”

The government has also issued a notification to give importance to the ‘Aviralta’ of River Ganga and to ensure that the required level of ecological flow is always maintained.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri said that 97 towns within 5 kilometres of River Ganga have been identified so that the necessary interventions can be made to make ODF (Open Defecation Free) under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

It was recently reported that engineers were successful in preventing the discharge of 14 crore litres of sewage into Ganga from Asia’s oldest drain, Sisamau Nala. PM Modi also inaugurated India’s multi-modal terminal along the National Waterway-1 on the River Ganga.

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