NEW DELHI: Botched up planning and frequent change of guards have stalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Ganga cleaning plan. Launched with much fanfare in 2014 after Modi’s electoral win from Varanasi, the plan has been languishing for the last three years and it is a sorry state of affairs. Since 2014, only 30 per cent of total sewer network in five states has been laid while only 13 per cent capacity has been created for treating sewer along the Ganga.
With no visible improvement in the last three years—the project was one of the key poll promises of the BJP’s Lok Sabha election manifesto in 2014—the government is now in a fast forward mode to show some tangible results before the next General Elections. Need for some result is also important as the PM was elected to the Lok Sabha from Varanasi. The Prime Minister’s Office has been monitoring the work, but in vain. Transfer of the portfolio of Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Ganga Rejuvenation to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from Uma Bharti—who was moved out over slow progress of work—was a major decision to push the Ganga cleaning work. Soon after taking charge of the ministry, Gadkari announced formation of a task force consisting of ministries such as drinking
water and sanitation, rural development and panchayati raj, tourism and urban development.
“All programmes and projects of the ministry will be executed within a definite time frame and timelines for pending projects will be released. The task force will oversee all projects,” said Gadkari.
Gadkari has assigned the task of Ganga cleaning to his junior minister and former Mumbai police chief Satpal Singh. The data related to progress of work presents a poor picture with only 153 MLD (million litres per day) capacity of sewage treatment plants created till August 2017 while the total sanctioned is 1,269 MLD. About 4,590 km of sewer network was to be laid in five Ganga states but so far only 1,384 km has been laid. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has been able to use only 20 per cent of money of the total sanctioned cost of `10,647 crore till August 2017.
The NDA government also launched the ‘Namami Gange’ programme and in 2015 allocated `20,000 crore for cleaning the river. Previous governments have also made futile attempts to clean the Ganga. In 1985, the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had launched the Ganga Action Plan Phase I, and Phase II was launched in 1993. According to the Press Information Bureau, a sum of `986.34 crore was spent on the two phases till March 31, 2014. However, the impact of it can hardly be seen, which is why Ganga was listed among the top 10 dirtiest rivers in the world by the World Wildlife Fund in 2016.
Finally, in July this year the National Green Tribunal (NGT) swung into action and came out with an exhaustive and landmark judgement on cleaning of the river. It has given a two-year deadline to authorities for setting up sewage treatment plants. It also called for demarcation of a 100-metre area from the edge of the Ganga as ‘no development zone’ on a stretch between Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The 50 major cities and hundreds of smaller towns that line the river’s banks generate about 3,000 million litres of sewage every day, only one-third of which is treated before it reaches the river.
According to sources in the water resources ministry, frequent change of Ganga mission heads—three in the last three years—and confusion over operational mode of the Ganga projects besides poor planning have set back the clock on ground work needed to begin the massive project.
The lack of clarity on the work can be judged from the fact that in May 2015, the ministry decided to take work related to setting up and operation of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) on DBOT (Design, Build, Operate and Transfer) mode for cleaning the Ganga.However, it changed its stand in January 2016 and decided to go for hybrid annuity-based public-private partnership model for wastewater treatment, fast-tracking projects and ensuring effective utilisation of funds. Finally, tendering process of projects in major cities started by March 2017.
With Gadkari—who has the experience of improving sluggish pace of highway construction in the country—at the helm of affairs, the Centre is ready to roll out new strategies to achieve the target. The focus is to implement project at a faster pace and improve utilisation of the allocated budget.
But lack of proper research on the river is also affecting the project. According to documents submitted to the court by the Centre, the number of grossly polluting industries (GPIs) affecting the Ganga was 764 in 1985. In 2017, government officials were still listing the number of GPIs as 764.
There is also lack of clarity on the number of major drains that discharge pollutants into the Ganga and its main tributaries. While the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) pegs the number at 30, the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board claims that at least 150 directly join the Ganga and its tributaries.
The NMCG—the apex body for cleaning of the river—now wants to see next five years as an era of determination to clean the Ganga and desires to involve all the stakeholders in the mission. A new campaign and communication strategy with youths at the focal point is being prepared by the Centre that the government hopes will add the much-needed push to the project. “The Ganga is considered sacred but Indians’ love towards the holy river is limited to ritualistic moments and we need to extend this aastha beyond religious moments to a level where Ganga cleaning becomes an integral part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a ‘New India by 2022’,” said an NMCG official document.
According to the Ganga Mission, there is no questioning the reverence. But, unfortunately the emotional connect tends to be restricted to personal ritualistic moments.
“Invoking this reverence towards the river—without however giving it religious overtones—could be an entry-point towards mass awareness and action towards river clean-up. The proposed campaign, therefore, needs to evoke a strong soul connect with the Ganga and leverage the associated emotion to drive active participation in keeping the river clean and healthy,” said the new communication document prepared by NMCG.