‘Namami Gange’ takes off at Haridwar today

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

The Union Government will commence its ‘Namami Gange’ programme tomorrow with the launch of 231 projects at 104 locations. The government bills the projects as part of an integrated approach to clean the national river.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharti, Narendra Tomar and Mahesh Sharma will launch the project in Haridwar during an event which will also be attended by Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

“It is a historic moment... for the first time the river is being cleaned wholly. We will show the results of the phase I of Ganga cleaning in October 2016, while the second phase will be completed two years later,” Uma Bharti said while talking to mediapersons.

She said, “The projects involve modernisation of ghats and crematoriums, development of sewerage network and sewage treatment, tree plantation (medicinal plants), pilot drain project, interception drain project, trash skimmers and conservation of biodiversity”.

She said the government would also launch an application to monitor the level of pollution in the river.

As many as 47 projects will be inaugurated across the state at various locations, including Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, besides Haridwar.

Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, newly-appointed Ministers of State for Water Resources Vijay Goel and Sanjeev Balyan were also present during the media conference.

Gadkari said the projects were being launched after conducting a detailed scientific study and would involve use of the world’s best technologies to ensure that river pollution was averted.

Referring to ‘Moksha Dham’ works, which relate to construction and repair of crematoria located along the river, Gadkari said the projects would be implemented without hurting public sentiments attached to the holy river even as air and water pollution was kept under check.

He also rejected the claims that the works were taking off late. He was “rather surprised” that the projects were being launched within such a short span, notwithstanding the complexities involved in it, he added.

Meanwhile, when asked about Balyan and Goel joining the Water Resources Ministry following expansion of the Union Ministerial Council yesterday, Uma Bharti said she was “waiting for the appointments to happen for many days”.

She hoped that their joining would “reduce the burden and increase the pace of work” in the ministry which handles crucial subjects of river-linking and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKYS), besides the Namami Gange programme. Uma Bharti tweeted about the launch of the programme also.

The Water Resources Ministry seconded her in a statement saying that 231 projects would be inaugurated at various locations in seven states, including five Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

In Delhi and Haryana, the projects would be launched on the Yamuna, a tributary of the Ganga.

In Haryana, Chief Minister ML Khattar will inaugurate a Rs 129-crore Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and afforestation in Panipat along the Yamuna. The Centrally-funded STP is aimed at preventing the flow of sewage of Panipat in the Yamuna.

A ministry official said a project was being prepared to use the recycled water from the plant for other uses. Sewage discharged from Panipat in the Yamuna is main source of obnoxious nitrogen content in its water which flows to Delhi and further downstream in Mathura.

The Yamuna, one of the major tributaries of the Ganga, flows through Haryana and Delhi. It needs to be protected because it merges with the Ganga and affects its water quality.

Referring to the Ganga Gram Yojana, Uma Bharti said 400 villages along the river would be engaged in waste management. As many as 13 IITs had adopted five villages each for development as Ganga Grams.

As part of the programme, 328 sarpanches have been trained at Seechewal village in Punjab. Eight biodiversity centres would be developed along the Ganga for restoration of identified priority species even as afforestation would be carried out along the river. These centres would be developed at Rishikesh, Dehradun, Narora, Allahabad, Varanasi, Bhagalpur, Sahibganj and Barraackpore, Uma Bharti added.

(With inputs from PTI)