Mission Clean Ganga

” Mission Clean Ganga” After the Failure of “Ganga Action Plan” Centre Government has started showing interest to Clean Holy River Ganga Again. Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh announced the ” Mission Clean Ganga” Project on 31st Dec 2009. Ramesh told that By 2020, No municipal sewage and industrial waste would be Released in The Holy River without Treatment. The total budget of this Project would be around 15,000 crores. NGRBA Center Government has Also established National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) authority, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clean Ganga. It is really sad that even after 20 years of Ganga Action Plan and spending of millions of rupees , Ganga is still polluted and Pollution level is increasing every day According to Environment Minister Ramesh World Bank has committed a amount of 1 billion dollar which would be given in next 4-5 years for cleaning up of this heavily polluted river. Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal signed a Memorandum of Understanding, for river Ganga’s protection and pollution management programme, with seven major IITS of India, in New Delhi. this July the 1st meeting of the authority , set up in feb ,2009, also decided to constitute a standing committee headed by the union finance minister that would meet more frequently & review the implementation of the mission. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the Rs.496.9 crore Ganga cleanup project with Japanese assistance at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh this June.The project, under ‘Mission Clean Ganga’ of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, will set up a sewage treatment plant of 140 million litres per day capacity, lay 34 km of sewers and rehabilitate existing sewerage systems.According to the statement, biogas (methane) from STP will be used to generate electricity and will help in reducing green house gas emissions.  also empowered steering committee, headed by the union environment & forests secretary, will be set up for fast tracking clearence of projects. of the 5 chief ministers who are members of the NGRBA, chief ministers of uttarkhand & bihar attended the meeting while U.P. & west bengal were represented by the cabinate ministers & jharkhand by the advisor to the governor.  The undertakings of GAP stage 1 started in 1985 were announced close on 31 March 2000. The guiding Committee of the national river conservation authority reconsidered the advancement of the GAP and essential correction on the basis of faults made and knowledge profited from the GAP phase; 2.00 designs have been accomplished under this plan. A million liters of waste is aimed at to be intercepted, redirected and treated. But the need of total achievement of the 'Ganga Action Plan' in over two decades, has provoked Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh to announce the innovative 'Mission Clean Ganga' task.  the authoriy was set up under the environment protection act as an empowered authority to adopt a new holistic river basin approach to the cleaning of ganga & to address the issue of minimum ecological flows, besides pollution abatement works.

 Source--The Hindu,Indian Officer,Pioneer,Ministry of Environment