Govt urges corporates to take up more projects under Ganga rejuvenation

Minister of water resource, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari has appealed to corporates to undertake more projects under the Ganga rejuvenation programme as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity. He said corporates play a critical role in this project, and they can contribute majorly to river front development. 

The minister assured easy clearances of the paperwork. Ganga rejuvenation projects are notified as CSR activity. 

Several projects under the programme have already been undertaken by corporates, such as the development of ghats at Gangotri and Badrinath at Rs 25.65 crore by Indorama industries. IndusInd Bank has undertaken a project for treatment of nine drains in Allahabad and Farrukhabad at a cost of Rs 9.5 crore, while the Shiping Corporation of India proposes to develop Katwa Ghat in West Bengal at a cost of Rs 35 lakh. Yes Bank has proposed to develop ghats at Rishikesh and undertake plantation drives in Uttarakhand. The Hinduja Group will also help develop ghats at Rishikesh and Haridwar. Bajaj Electircals is undertaking plantations on the riverfront across Uttar Pradesh, while HCL plans to focus on ghat development in Varanasi, as well as work on bio-remediation, tree plantation, community development and Ganga Gram (villages) development. Reliance Industries is also taking up ghat development in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. 

The Clean Ganga fund has already received Rs 255.02 crore as donations from corporates and individuals, including NRIs and PIOs. Out of this amount, Rs 205.14 crore has been approved by the board of trustees for afforestation interventions in five of the main stem of the Ganga states, treatment of drains for in situ bio-remediation and development of ghats and crematoria. 

Namami Gange is a flagship programme of the NDA government which is keen to show some visible action before the next hustings. The challenges are huge, with the 2,525 km long river being polluted in a myriad ways. The main focus is to stop untreated water and sewage from entering the river, and the ministry has expended most effort in establishing sewage and effluent treatment plants. The river gets a daily discharge of 2,953 million litres of sewage from 97 towns and cities. Till November 2017, the available treatment capacity was just 1,584 million litres daily in 46 towns and cities. Of the 105 sewage infrastructure projects commissioned, 26 are completed, 44 are underway and 35 are in the tendering process.