HYDERABAD: The Central government has not released any funds for Musi river conservation in the last three years, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel informed Lok Sabha on Thursday, July 29, 2021. Responding to a query from Congress member A Revanth Reddy during Question Hour, he said: “Jal Shakti Ministry has been supplementing efforts of the States/UTs by providing financial and technical assistance for abatement of pollution in identified stretches of rivers in the country through the centrally sponsored Scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP).
“Under NRCP, pollution abatement projects for conservation of Musi have been implemented in Hyderabad at a total cost of Rs 335.65 crore and four Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of total capacity of 593 million litres per day (MLD) have been constructed for treatment of municipal sewage. However, no funds have been provided by the Union government in the last three years under NRCP for conservation of Musi river,” the Union Minister said.
He said that Telangana State Pollution Control Board has informed that no waste, especially from pharmaceutical industries, are dumped into river Musi. Prahlad Singh Patel also informed the House that at present, 25 STPs with a total capacity of 772.5 MLD in the catchment area of Musi are operational. In addition, work order for 17 STPs of 376.5 MLD capacity has been awarded at an estimated cost of Rs1,280 crore under Hybrid Annuity Model by Telangana government.
MRO unit at Begumpet airport
Meanwhile, responding to a question from TRS member Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed that the bid documents are currently under preparation for establishing an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.
No waste dumped: PCB
Scindia said TSPCB had informed the Centre that no waste, especially from pharmaceutical industries, had been dumped into Musi river.