Twenty projects approved for implementation of Namami Gange Programme in Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi

The Executive Committee (EC) of National Mission for Clean Ganga on 15 March 2017 approved 20 projects worth nearly Rs 1900 crore.

Out of 20 projects, 13 are in Uttarakhand that includes creating new sewage treatment plants, upgrading existing STPs and laying of sewage networks in Haridwar at an estimated cost of around Rs 415 crore.

The approved plan for Haridwar is aimed at treating sewage water generated by not only city’s 1.5 lakh local dwellers, but also by people who visit the place for various purposes.

All the projects will be completely funded by the Union Government, including the expenditure on operation and maintenance of these projects.

Key highlights

• Out of 13 projects approved for Uttarakhand, four pertain to pollution abatement works for river Alakananda to ensure cleaner flow of the river downstream. This includes interception and diversion of drains along with creation of new small STPs at four crucial locations at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 78 crore. These locations are Joshimath, Rudraprayag, Karnprayag and Kirti Nagar.

• A pollution abatement project for River Ganges at Rishikesh has also been approved at an estimated cost of more than Rs 158 crore.

• The construction of a new 26 MLD STP at Lakkar Ghat with online monitoring system has also been envisaged in the Rishikesh-specific project.

• In New Delhi, a project to construct new state-of-the-art 564 MLD Okhla sewage treatment plant with best effluent standards has also been approved at an estimated cost of Rs 665 crore. The new project will replace the existing STPs phase-I, II, III and IV.

• In addition, two projects for laying new sewage pipelines in Pitampura and Kondli in Delhi have also been approved. These new pipelines will prevent leakages and they have an estimated cost of more than Rs 100 crore.

• The Union Cabinet also approved sewage related works in Karmalichak in Patna and Rajmahal in Jharkhand for a cost of over Rs 335 crore.

• For River Ganges in Varanasi, a project under Hybrid-Annuity PPP model worth almost Rs 151 crore has also been given EC approval.