Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari has called upon Indian business leaders in UK to come forward and cooperate with the Indian Government in its Namami Gange project to clean the river Ganga. Addressing a gathering of business leaders in London yesterday Gadkari said that while Nirmal Ganga is the foremost priority for the Government, people’s participation is also vital for maintaining the river’s pristine glory.
Gadkari said that there are projects worth more than Rs.10,000 crore for development of ghats, crematoria, waterbodies, parks, sanitation facilities, public amenities and river front development which need additional funding. He informed that projects worth over Rs 2500 crore, available for private funding have been published as a booklet and are also available on the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) website as an e-booklet .The Minister appealed to the business leaders to select projects of their choice for funding. He said the list of projects is only illustrative and will be updated. As of now there are projects in the category of development of ghats and crematoria, modernisation of existing ghats. development of Smriti Vans (tree plantation at select places of choice), in-situ treatment of drains by using innovative technologies such as bioremediation and modular sewage treatment plants.
Talking about the work being done by the Government for ensuring Nirmal Ganga Gadkari said that more than 119 ghat projects have already been taken up in five states at the cost of Rs.650 Crore. NMCG has taken up the execution of various sewerage infrastructure projects. 97 towns have been identified along the main stream of river Ganga, for generating 3603 Mld (estimated for year 2035) of sewage treatment capacity. The existing sewage treatment capacity in these towns is 1580 Mld. In the first phase, 85 sewerage projects have been taken up in 55 of these 97 towns. These projects will create another 1424 Mld STP capacity at a cost of Rs. 11105 Cr. In the remaining 42 towns, fresh interventions are not required either due to interventions already taken up under other schemes or due to low pollution load / impact.
The Minister further informed that the Government is spending more than Rs.20,000 crore on sewage treatment to ensure Nirmal Ganga. Ten major towns contribute almost 64% of present sewage generation of the 97 identified above, The towns are Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Farrukhabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Kolkata, Howrah and Bally. All requirements of sewage treatment infrastructure in these 10 towns have been fully addressed. 18 of the 85 projects undertaken have been completed, creating 151 mld STP capacity which is presently in operation. 35 projects are under progress and other 32 projects are under various stages of tendering. This will create an additional sewage treatment capacity of 1273 mld.
Following Gadkari’s appeal business leaders Anil Agarwal of the Vedanta Group and Ravi Mehrotra of the Foresight Group gave their commitments for projects in Patna and Kanpur respectively. It may be noted that Anil Agarwal grew up in Patna while Ravi Mehrotra was brought up in Kanpur. More such commitments and MoUs in this regard are slated to be signed during a Namami Gange Road Show being organized on November 29,2017 in London. A large number of NRIs, PIOs are expected to join this session. Shri Gadkari expressed the hope that he expects commitment of more than Rs. 2000 crores from business leaders during this road show.
केन्द्रीय जल संसाधन नदी विकास और गंगा संरक्षण मंत्री श्री नितिन गडकरी ने ब्रिटेन में भारतीय उद्यमियों से गंगा नदी को स्वच्छ करने की सरकार की नमामि गंगे परियोजना में सहयोग के लिए आगे आने की अपील की है। लंदन में कल उद्यमियों के एक समारोह को संबोधित करते हुए श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि निर्मल गंगा सरकार की सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता है। गंगा के प्राचीन गौरव को बनाये रखने के लिए लोगों की सहभागिता भी बेहद जरूरी है।
श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि घाटों, शमशानों, जल स्त्रोतों, उद्यानों, स्वच्छता सेवाओं, सार्वजनिक सुविधाओं और नदी के किनारों के विकास की 10,000 करोड़ रुपये से अधिक लागत की तीन परियोजनाएं चल रही हैं लेकिन इसके लिए और धन की आवश्यकता है। श्री गडकरी ने उद्यमियों से अपनी इच्छानुसार परियोजनाओं को चुनकर निवेश की अपील की। श्री गडकरी ने बताया कि 650 करोड़ रुपये की लागत से पांच राज्यों में घाटों की 119 परियोजनाओं पर कार्य शुरू हो चुका है। श्री गडकरी ने बताया कि निर्मल गंगा सुनिश्चित करने के लिए सरकार सीवेज निपटान पर 20,000 करोड़ रुपये से अधिक खर्च कर रही है।
(Inputs from PIB & others)
