Bihar commits Rs1,000 crore to clean up Ganges
03 Jun 2009
The Bihar government has earmarked Rs1,000 crore for an ambitious project to clean up the River Ganges by refurbishing the many drains that empty into it in and around the state capital of Patna. Chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Tuesday that untreated sewage and garbage would not be allowed to go into the river.
"The state government is working on a Rs1,000-crore project to save river Ganga from pollution," Kumar said at a function to celebrate Ganga Dussehra. "We are committed to do everything to keep the river pollution free."
Speaking at the same function, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said another Rs1,000 crore project was also on the anvil for the renovation of the outdated and outworn sewerage systems in Patna. The project was delayed due to the Lok Sabha elections last month.
Nitish Kumar has also asked the centre to convene a meeting of representatives of all the member states of the Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) to check pollution and degradation of the river revered by millions in India.
"The centre must convene a meeting as soon as possible for evolving a composite and holistic action policy to stop pollution and degradation of river Ganga," Kumar said. He expressed concern over the pollution in the Ganges caused by the filth flowing into the river. "Should the people continue to treat the river as a drain, its religious and spiritual values would be compromised for ever," he added.
Kumar said despite the work done under the Ganga Action Plan, the river remained far from being cleaned.
Modi added that the state government had already sanctioned Rs40 crore for constructing 212 ghats along the river across the state for the devotees. Besides, a sum of Rs 11.05 crore had been sanctioned for the renovation of 22 ghats on the bank of the river in Patna. "It is expected that this work will be completed before the chhat festival," Modi added. He also said an ambitious plan to link all these ghats on the city's riverfront had also been approved.
Last year the state government had approached Enviroway, a Canadian company, in collaboration with Asian Development Bank to clean up the city's drains. Enviroway told government officials to introduce biochemical treatment methods to clean the drains, as this would be cost-effective and eco-friendly.
The Ganges is highly polluted despite being considered sacred by Hindus. About 30 large drains around Patna discharge about 190 million litres of untreated sewage and garbage into the river every day. Tested samples of the water revealed a high presence of coliform bacteria.
Recent research has revealed that Ganga water is unfit for agricultural purposes also.
A joint team of army and air force officers had completed a journey from Allahabad to Patna through the river route Last year. Members of the team said they were shocked at the filthy condition of the riverbanks, the garbage dumping and the flow of untreated sewage water into the river.
"We came across dozens of half-burnt bodies and corpses floating in the river. We also came across animal carcasses and heaps of polythene bags," a team member said.
Over Rs8 billion has been spent in the last three years to clean up many Indian rivers, but major ones like the Ganges and the Yamuna continue to be polluted. Most of the money was spent on cleaning the drains that empty into the rivers by setting up sewage treatment plants and sanitation facilities.
