Latest news with #NamamiGangeProgramme
News18
5 days ago
- General
- News18
Ganga water quality remained within safe limits after Maha Kumbh 2025: Centre
New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) The water quality of the Ganga river remained within the permissible limits for primary bathing standards both during and after the Maha Kumbh 2025 in Prayagraj, the Jal Shakti ministry said on Thursday. The monitoring conducted at eight key locations by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), including Shringverpur Ghat, Sangam, and Deeha Ghat, showed that parameters like pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), and Faecal Coliform (FC) were well within the acceptable limits throughout religious festivities, the Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Thursday. The data was collected between January 12 and February 20, 2025, covering the Amrit Snan days and adjoining periods. The CPCB increased its monitoring from five to eight locations midway through the period to ensure broader coverage. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the positive results reflect the effectiveness of the sanitation and wastewater management systems implemented during the Mela. The sanitation plan developed by the Prayagraj Mela Authority included temporary drainage systems spanning 250 km, the use of bioremediation ponds, and the installation of temporary sewage and faecal sludge treatment plants. After the event, these systems were dismantled and stored for future use, while disinfection measures ensured hygienic site closure, Choudhary said. The ministry also stated that under the Namami Gange Programme, 502 projects have been sanctioned with 323 completed, 150 under implementation, and 29 in the tendering stage. The Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), which conducted a third-party appraisal, found that the programme has made substantial progress in reducing pollution, improving river flow, and engaging local communities, the MoS said. PTI UZM MPL MPL (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: July 24, 2025, 19:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Namami Gange project: Let the rivers talk to each other
Cleaning the Yamuna is among the top priorities of the newly elected BJP government in Delhi. The keen interest from the central government, also led by the BJP, favours the project. The project also has the advantage of the Yamuna being part of the Namami Gange Programme (NGP). Delhi's state-driven effort to clean the Yamuna carries the prospect of valuable reciprocal learning, which can help shape a comprehensive policy ecosystem for rejuvenating India's rivers. The NGP, launched in 2014 as the Government of India's flagship programme, can boast of a discernible impact in improving the water quality and ecological status of the Ganga. Besides the recent cleaner Maha Kumbh, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) offers the rising populations of keystone species such as the Ganges dolphin as evidence of the improved ecological status of the river. In over a decade of its implementation, the NGP's responsive policy and institutional experiments stand out as a departure from the earlier Ganga Action Plan. Implemented in mission mode, the NGP has interesting legal and institutional innovations to its credit. The foremost among these is that it has shifted from the regulatory framing of what was the Ministry of Environment and Forests to an executive approach, in the Ministry of Jal Shakti (earlier the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation). The programme also marks a shift from pollution abatement to improving the ecological condition of the river. The NGP has pursued a river basin approach informed by a plan produced by a consortium of the Indian Institutes of Technology. In celebrated river restoration programmes, like those in Europe, such shifts took decades. The International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR), established in 1950 to restore the River Rhine, made these shifts only after the Sandoz disaster in 1986. The NMCG was accorded the status of an authority soon after it was launched through the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order of 2016. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, constituted earlier, was dissolved through this order and was replaced with a National Ganga Council (NGC). There are other institutional innovations that show an unusual agility in policymaking. The NGC is headed by the Prime Minister with the chief ministers of the riparian states and 10 Union ministers as members. The NGC guides an empowered task force headed by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, and an executive council headed by NMCG's director general with extensive financial and regulatory powers. The most striking feature of the 2016 order is the recognition of the subnational governments as important partners. It mandates a layered structure of state Ganga committees and district Ganga committees — accommodating the important roles of governments at different levels. Despite this deliberate effort, the subnational participation in Namami Gange has not been very encouraging. The absence of ownership of the programme — the basin states' legal, institutional and budgetary responses — raises questions about its enduring impact. This is where the NGP can leverage the Delhi government-driven project of cleaning the Yamuna for a model that can be scaled. The project can reveal the missing and less understood drivers, motivations, and channels of subnational mobilisation for river rejuvenation. Delhi's Yamuna project is a particularly complex one and can therefore make a useful contribution. The Yamuna, like all other major Indian rivers, is an interstate river. Improving its ecological status depends on reliable interstate cooperation mechanisms for enduring outcomes — a challenge that Delhi will need to address. At the same time, it faces water quality deterioration due to a pollutant load of close to 80 per cent from the city-state of Delhi. This singular characteristic brings the role of a distinct territorial entity, that too of an urban agglomeration, into sharp focus for improving river water quality. Studies have shown that Delhi's uncaptured and untreated sewage is responsible for the pollution load in the Yamuna. This is a classic instance where improvement in river water quality directly depends on improved urban governance. Delhi can, therefore, demonstrate what states should do for enduring outcomes for the NGP, and the nature of Centre-state collaboration that is required to achieve this. In Europe, it took a long time to get to the foundational Water Framework Directive. That experience is all about how institutions such as the ICPR mobilised the internal responses of sovereign nations in Europe. The NGP can potentially leverage responses like Delhi's cleaning of the Yamuna towards creating a policy and institutional ecosystem to rejuvenate India's rivers. Chokkakula is the president and chief executive of Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. Dasgupta is a research associate at CPR. Views are personal
Hindustan Times
07-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Gomti's revival drifts off course as Dist Ganga Committee meets after two months
Amid the search for concrete steps to improve the Gomti's deteriorating health, the District Ganga Committee (DGC) meeting held here on Tuesday turned out to be a big disappointment. The committee met after a gap of two months. (Mushtaq Ali/HT) Contrary to the expectations, the meeting, chaired by chief development officer (CDO) Ajay Jain in the absence of the Lucknow district magistrate, failed to come up with any effective plan to curb the flow of around 280 MLD (million litres per day) of untreated sewage into the river. Its focus was rather on planning new gateways and pathways in the name of beautification. Faecal coliform in the river, at Kudiaghat in the state capital, is 40,000 MPN (most probable number)/100ml against the maximum permissible limit of 2,500 MPN/100ml, according to the latest data available with experts. At Nishatganj bridge and Pipraghat, it was 49,000 and 79,000 MPN/100ml in March. Despite the high pollution levels, the committee, on Tuesday, confined itself to discussions only on the construction of gateways and a mandap on the Gomti. There was no dialogue even on deteriorating dissolved oxygen (DO) levels—a key marker for aquatic life—which drops from 10.7 mg/L at Manjhighat to just 2.9 mg/L at Kudiaghat, and then to a deadly 1.6 mg/L at Pipraghat. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which is an indicator for organic pollution, rises from 3.10 at Manjhighat to 8.20 at Kudiaghat and peaks to 12 at Pipraghat — levels far beyond safe limits for human use. Flows 960 km through 16 dists In 2014, when the Central government set up the Namami Gange Programme a sum of ₹ 20,000 crore was sanctioned for the rejuvenation and conservation of the Ganga. Also called National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), its state units are headed by chief secretaries of the respective states. At the district level, the programme's implementation is done by District Ganga Committees that are headed by district magistrates with DFOs as their member secretary. The Gomti also comes under the scope of the programme since it is a major tributary of the Ganga. It originates from Madhotanda in Puranpur block of Pilibhit and meets the Ganga at Kaithi Ghat in Ghazipur. It covers a distance of 960 km and passes through 16 districts. DGC planning Gomti Aarti, beautification When concrete mechanisms to conserve and preserve the Gomti did not evoke the desired results, the district committee, in its meeting held on Tuesday, looked beyond sewage treatment plant (STPs) and discussed appealing to the religious sentiments of people when they ask them to keep the Gomti clean. CDO Ajay Jain was the nodal officer who chaired the meeting and divisional forest officer (DFO) Sitanshu Pandey, the member secretary, was among those present. Both officials did the icebreaking by briefing members about the formation of Gomti Task Force and how the district administration was always relentlessly working for the conservation of the river. During the meeting, the irrigation department was requested to find a particular location along the ghat where a grand gateway could be constructed and a mandap could be built for daily Gomti Aarti on the lines of the Ganga Aarti in Varanasi and Haridwar. For the construction of the gateway and 'aarti' mandap, four places were identified. They are: Kudiya Ghat, Ghaila Ghat, Laxman Mela Ground and another one near the G20 ghat. While the irrigation department has been tasked with identifying the area, PWD officials were asked to send the estimate regarding this, which would be sent to the State Mission for Clean Ganga for its approval and funding. Jaldoot and a member of the DGC NK Verma claimed that the idea of a gateway was proposed by him, and it was included in the minutes of the meeting. The DFO said a massive tree plantation would be taken up all along the river ghats and several departments would be allocated saplings. It was also discussed that Ganga village committee meeting halls would be constructed in places from where the Gomti flows so that locals willing to render their services to keep the river clean could hold their periodical meetings there. Meanwhile, the DFO said the Gomti Task Force was bound to play an important role in conserving the river and the district committee would help in spreading public awareness. The task force, a specialised unit by Indian army's territorial wing, has been formed under the aegis of Namami Gange with approval from the Union ministry of defence. Its objective is to rejuvenate and protect the Gomti. Its responsibilities are monitoring the pollution level in the river, spreading public awareness, patrolling the riverbanks and ghats so that no waste is littered on the river, stabilising riverbanks and to seek assistance during natural disasters.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Ghaziabad: Project revised for 7 untapped drains flowing in Hindon
Ghaziabad: A project for tapping of seven untapped drains flowing into and polluting river Hindon in Ghaziabad is being revised and would now require funds from the Centre's Namami Gange Programme. Officials of UP Jal Nigam, agency preparing a revised detailed project report (DPR), said that the initial DPR was of about ₹422 crore while the project as per revised DPR estimates may involve a cost of about ₹650 crore. Overall, there are nine untapped drains flowing intor Hindon under the municipal corporation area namely -- the Karhera drain, Arthala drain, Kaila Bhatta drain, Nandgram drain, Hindon Vihar drain, city forest drain, Sarvodaya (Pratap Vihar) drain, Rahul Vihar drain, and Dasna drain. Together, these drains have an untreated discharge of about 149.97MLD (million litres per day) which goes to river Hindon and adding to pollution. Officials said that a project under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 scheme is already in place for tapping of two drains – Arthala and Karhera – along with construction of 68MLD capacity sewage treatment plant at Karhera in Sahibabad. The two drains have a discharge of about 10.13MLD. The project has a completion timeline of June, 2026. Officials said that about 45% of work is complete, and the project covers 10 of the corporation's residential wards. This project will lay down 145km of sewer network and will cover 67,669 households which did not have provision of sewers. The project was sanctioned in December, 2023. 'For the rest seven drains, a revised DPR for interception and diversion of drains, is being prepared, and it is likely to get complete soon. The revised DPR, being prepared by UP Jal Nigam, will be sent for approval and would require funds from the Namami Gange programme. The previous DPR which was put up for funds under AMRUT 2.0 could not go through due to issues,' said chief development officer Abhinav Gopal. UP Jal Nigam officials said that the revised DPR for seven untapped drains also include construction of three STPs, with each having an estimated capacity of 50-60MLD. These STPs are proposed at Dundahera, at city forest, and Siddharth Vihar. 'We are expecting that the revised DPR will be completed in next 15-20 days. Once the funds are approved and work awarded, the project will require about one-and-half to two years to get complete. The revised DPR will also have cost escalation. The project is being prepared to prevent pollution to river Hindon and under directions given by the National Green Tribunal,' said UP Jal Nigam's executive engineer (urban division) Arun Pratap Singh. Officials said that the initial DPR for tapping of seven drains was prepared and funds were sought from AMRUT 2.0 scheme. Since, the scheme requires a number of households to be benefitted, it could not go through, and a revised DPR is being prepared so that funds can be procured from the Namami Gange programme instead, officials said. The initial DPR was for five years of maintenance while the revised DPR will have a maintenance for 15 years, hence an escalated cost, they added. 'The untapped drains have been flowing in river Hindon for years now and taking a heavy toll in terms of pollution. The ongoing projects will require several years to become fully operational. Apart from this, there is urgent need to devise a comprehensive plan for reviving the natural flow of the river,' said Sushil Raghav, a city-based environmentalist.
The Hindu
30-04-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Breathing life into Vembanad lake
Vembanad, the longest lake in India and the largest in Kerala, is gasping for breath. The 96.5 km-long water body spans the districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Ernakulam and forms part of the Vembanad-Kol wetland system, a Ramsar site. Six major rivers drain into the lake, which accounts for around 30% of the State's total surface water resource. Over the past century, the lake has shrunk significantly due to human-induced interventions, land reclamation, and natural sedimentation, according to experts. Though vital to the region's ecology and agriculture, it faces severe threats from pollution, eutrophication, unsustainable agricultural practices, and invasive weed proliferation. A few years ago, a study by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies revealed alarming levels of plastic waste, silt, and other sediments in the lake. According to a recent expert committee report prepared as part of the Vembanad Lake Rejuvenation Project, an ambitious joint effort of the Alappuzha district administration and the Local Self Government Department, the lake's surface area has shrunk mainly due to land encroachment. Citing previous studies, the report notes that the surface area of the lake diminished by 27% between 1917 and 1990. The drastic reduction in not only area, but also depth, has significantly reduced the lake's floodwater retention capacity and impaired its critical ecosystem services, including water purification, biodiversity support, and sediment transport. The unchecked proliferation of water hyacinths has further worsened the situation, contributing to dangerously high levels of chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand. As a result, the fish catch has declined by about 66% over the last three decades. The efforts to rejuvenate the lake are being spearheaded by Alappuzha District Collector Alex Varghese. The initiative draws 'inspiration from the Namami Gange Programme'. It gained momentum on October 28, 2024 when a workshop was held focusing on addressing the challenges of restoring the water body. Eight subcommittees — agriculture, fisheries, water resources, tourism, biodiversity, environment and sanitation, disaster management and climate change, and revenue — were constituted. A ₹188.25 crore comprehensive five-year plan was formulated and recently submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The estimate may be revised based on the detailed study on water resources and irrigation projects being conducted by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management. The short-term goals include the removal of plastic waste, construction of bio-shields to protect farmlands, fish ranching, weed eradication, and the construction of 31 bio bunds, each 1 km long in 31 grama panchayats. The long-term targets include dredging the lake bed to increase its water-holding capacity, promoting organic farming to prevent pollution from pesticides and chemicals, conserving the flora and fauna, establishing sewage and faecal sludge treatment plants in flood-prone Kuttanad, manufacturing value-added products from water hyacinth, and boosting tourism and fish yield. While the report is under the State government's consideration, 28.72 tonnes of plastic waste and a greater quantity of water hyacinth were removed from the lake in recent mega cleaning drives conducted under the aegis of the Alappuzha district administration. Rejuvenating the lake is critical for enhancing the region's resilience to climate change impacts such as erratic rainfall, sea-level rise, and intensified flooding events. However, it is easier said than done. For instance, houseboats are among the top sources of pollution in the lake. While the report calls for enacting strict laws against unauthorised vessels, previous efforts to rein in illegal houseboat operations have been largely ineffective. Another significant hurdle is land encroachment. The expert committee report notes that reclaiming encroached areas 'necessitates strong political support and decisive action.' Since Kuttanad is part of the Vembanad wetland ecosystem, the lake's restoration should be linked to the revival of the entire Kuttanad region. Coordinated collaboration among various stakeholders, including local communities, district administrations, and different levels of governance, will be key to overcoming these complex challenges and will require support from the Union and State governments.
