NEW DELHI: After being pulled up by the Supreme Court over clean Ganga mission, the Centre has now prepared a three phase -- short term, mid-term and long-term -- plan, to clean up the river, which includes ensuring 100 per cent sewage infrastructure in 118 cities along the Ganga basin at a cost `51,000 crore, industrial pollution abatement, action plans for Char Dham Yatra and safe disposal of puja material sand mining guidelines, among others.
An Affidavit filed by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Mission Director, National Mission for Clean Ganga, on behalf of the Central government, said, “In order to ensure rejuvenation of Ganga, the action plan envisages phase-wise time line in terms of ‘short-term’ - a period of next three years, ‘medium-term’ - a period of next five years, and ‘long-term’ - a period of next 10 years and more.”
The apex court, on September 3, had observed after seeing the action plan submitted by the Centre that it seemed as though the Ganga would not be cleaned up even after 200 years. It had asked the Centre to come up with a detailed plan and give a power point presentation. The SC is likely to hear the case on September 24.
The status and tentative timelines for completion of ongoing projects under NGRBA programme in short and medium term has been prepared after consulting 5 Ganga basin states -- Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.