Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has entrusted the responsibility of the Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry to Mr Nitin Gadkari. The country is hopeful that Shri Gadkari will clean up the Ganga with the same effectiveness as he has improved the road network of the country.
So far, the complete focus of the Ganga cleaning has been on Sewage treatment plants. Since the Ganga Action Plan of 1985, the Central Government has given financial help to the municipalities to install these Sewage treatment plants. But the municipalities are not interested in running these plants, because they are facing financial problems. Thus, most of the plants have been closed.
A Report of the Central Pollution Control Board states that “Adequate fund allocation for O&M of STPs is not provided particularly in Bihar and U.P.” (Page 29, point 5.1.2). Similarly, “the performance of 1 STP (Swargashram) in Uttarakhand is far below the expected norms” (page 23, point 3) and “The chromium recovery plant at Kanpur was found non-operational and all other plants found operational, though some of them only partially.” (Page 24, point 2).
According to a Report by the Press Information Bureau The total capacity of sewage treatment plants in the four states through which the Ganga flows is 995 MLD (Million Liters per Day), but the utilized capacity is only 542MLD.
It is clear we that we are not able to run the existing plants. What purpose will be served if we install more plants only not to run them? Only contractors and big companies will make money.
Instead of giving capital subsidy by the Government, the market for procured treated water should be made. The cleaned water by the sewage treatment plant should be purchased from the private plant operators by the Government and used for irrigation. By doing so, the burden of running a Sewage treatment plant on municipalities will be decreased. The central government will also not be required to provide capital support. These plants will be established by the private parties by taking loan from the banks. However, the annual expenditure for buying treated water will increase. But then, the country has to pay the price for cleaning the Ganga.
The use of treated water for irrigation and industries will reduce the uses of Ganga water for irrigation and then Ganga will be alive.
Therefore, we request to the Ganga Rejuvenation minister, Nitin Gadkari that he should buy treated water from sewage treatment plants.
