Centre rolls out plan to treat Ganga tributaries for success of ‘Namami Gange’ flagship programme

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 31

The Centre has widened its focus from other than the main stretch of river Ganga to its tributaries for the success of its flagship “Namami Gange” (clean-Ganga” programme).

This focus includes filtering of flow of sewage in the tributaries from habitation centres located along their banks.

The rationale is that the sewage ultimately flows into the Ganges. Hence, the drive to clean it will end up in proverbial chase of the tail if the tributaries, especially the major ones are not attended to simultaneously.

The Centre has made a push to filter the flow of untreated sewage from the tourist and industrial cities along the banks of the Yamuna-the longest tributary of the Ganges.

In this context, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry has sealed a tripartite Concession Agreement involving its National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam and M/s Vishvaraj Environment Private Limited (VEPL) for development of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) for Agra under Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM). The contract has been awarded at the total cost of about  Rs 583 crores.

This is to abate pollution in the Yamuna through “basin-approach” and the project comprises construction of STPs of total capacity of about 178 MLD.

Developing Interception & Diversion (I&D) structures, I&D network laying, sewage pumping stations including Operation and Maintenance for 15 years etc are cogs of the project.

This project will be implemented under Hybrid Annuity based PPP model and will ensure that operation and maintenance of the STPs are done as per stringent performance requirements,” said the NMCG’s Director-General G Asok Kumar.

The other major tributaries of the Ganges include the Gomti, the Ramganga, and the Ghaghara on which the NMCG has its focus.

Bulk of the sterm of the Ganges pass through Uttar Pradesh, and a good number of the tributaries course through it.

The Yamuna has Inter-State scope and its health has major impact on the eco-system of the Ganges.