Namami Gange Programmei is flagship program by Central Govt launched in 2014 under the head of new ministry. This is an Integrated Conservation Mission with budget of 20,000 cr. Core Goal of the Project is to – Abatement of Pollution and Conservation and Rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
About Ganga Basin
- Stretches 2525 km Himalayas and flow through Gangetic Pain of North India states to Bangadesh, which covers most of the UP, Uttarakhand, West Bengal etc as show below.
- Ganga Bsin is Source of 40% of India’s population across 11 states, this is one of the most polluted river.
Source of Pollution and Critical Concerns
Human Waste, Indsutrial Waste, Religious Events, Dams, Seasonal Variation in flow etc are the main source of pollution in Rivers.
Critical concerns are –
- Solid Waste
- Sewage
- Industrial Highly Toxic
- Non-Point Source Pollution
Launch of Namami Gange
Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission – Namami Gange launched in 2014 with 2000 cr budgetary allocation with long term plan – Ganga River Basin Management Plan is being developed prepared by consortium of 7 IITs.
Components of Ganga Rejuvenation
- Aviral Dhara – continuous Flow
- Enforcing River Regularity Zones.
- Restoration and conservation of wetlands.
- Nirmal Dhara – Unpolluted Flow
- Ensuring Sustainable Municipal Sewage Management – States will create the infrastructure for sewage treatment, 118 urban bodies would be included.
- Managing Sewage from Rural Areas : All Ganga Bank Gram Panchayats to be ODF by 2022.
- Managing Industrial Waste : Make ZLD mandatory, real time quality monitoring, reuse of treated water etc.
- Ecological and Geological Integrity – Restoring Flora and Fauna.
8 Pillar of Namami Gange Program
- Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
- River Surface Cleaning
- Afforestation
- River Front Development
- Bio-Diversity
- Public Awareness
- Industrial Effulent Monitoring
- Ganga Gram
Other Key Feature of Project
- It will cover 8 states, 47 towns, 12 rivers.
- Bring Multiple Agencies under one roof – like State bodies, municipalites, Pnchayat etc.
- Several ministers will work under nodal of water resources ministry like – Urban, Environment, Shipping etc.
- Pollution and Sewage Treatment are the main tasks –
- Rehabilitation and up-gradation of existing Sewage Treatment Plants.
- Severage Infrastructure.
- Industrial Pollution Abatement.
- PPP approach to tackel pollution.
- Introduction of Territorial Army Eco-Task Force.
- Treatment of Waste Water through innovative methods, in-situ treatment, municipal sewage treatment guidelines issued.
- Setting Ganga Knowledge Center.
- Action Plan developed by consortium of 7 IITs.
Clean Gang Fund
- Clean Ganga Fund created for collecting public donations – individual, coroprates NRIs etc.
- Fund would be managed by Trust.
- Individual/Corporates can involve – Adopt Ghats, Pilot New Technology Conduct Research, Involve with creating Awareness.
Past Missions for Cleaning the Ganga
- Ganga Action Plan- Phase 1 and Phase 2 under Rajiv Gandhi.
- Mission Clean Ganga in 2009.
- National Ganga River Basin Authority – UPA govt launched this programme, 43 towns were covered.