Progress on Clean Ganga Mission

Progress on Clean Ganga Mission

Context: We discuss on the achievements of National Mission for Clean Ganga in its seven years’ journey.

About Namami Gange Programme
• It is an Integrated Conservation Mission (approved as ‘Flagship Programme’) launched by the Union Government in June 2014 with budget outlay of INR 20,000 Crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, and conservation and rejuvenation of River Ganga.
• The Ministry of Jal Shakti is responsible for its implementation.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and its State counterpart organisations, known as State Program Management Groups (SPMGs), are in charge of putting the programme into action.
• The main pillars of programme are:

About NMCG:
• It is a statutory authority established under the National Council for River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Act, 2016. In 2016, the Government issued a notification to authorise the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to exercise powers under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Key Achievements:
• The NMCG has only managed to install sewage treatment plants (STPs) capable of treating 20% of sewage in five major Ganga states. This is projected to increase to 33% by 2024 and 60% by 2026.
• As of July 2023, STPs capable of treating 2,665 million litres per day (MLD) have been commissioned and are now functional.
• Delay have been observed in commissioning some of the plants due to issues with land acquisition and the need to revise the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs).
• At present, Uttarakhand (36) has the highest number of STPs, followed by Uttar Pradesh (35) and West Bengal (11).
• The Namami Gange Mission, a flagship initiative under NMCG, constitute approximately 80% of the project’s total expenditure.

Consequences of above achievements:
• Increase in the number of Dolphins from 2000 to 4000
• Fishermen are also noticing more Indian carp, a type of fish that can only live in clean water. It shows that there has been improvement in the river water quality.

What are the challenges observed in Cleaning River Ganga?
• Sewage treatment has been the central issue in cleaning Ganga.
• Ensuring year round flow of River Ganga is another. With enough flow, a river acts as self-purifying system.
• While the containment of human waste has been largely achieved by Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) through construction of toilet in Ganga grams, its safe disposal still poses a huge challenge. Faecal sludge is a bigger pollutant than sewerage.
• Cost overruns and usual Governance issues.