Ganga rejuvenation Plan: How far have we succeeded in cleaning the Ganges ?

There had been repeated assurances by the union government and the Namame Gange authority about cleansing of the Ganges and making it completely free of pollution by 2019 but it seems that despite the best efforts of the agencies concerned this 20000 crore over ambitious flagship programme of prime minister Narendra Modi seems to be not up to the mark with the speed of progress being quite feeble as compared to the zeal and enthusiasm it posessed in the initial years of the start of this revival project in 2014 after the BJP led NDA government assumed power at the centre.

The previous minister of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti who’d been quite active in her efforts to achieve the proposed target had assured that the Ganges will be made pollution free by 2018 but was divested of her responsibilities and Nitin Gadkari brought in, in her place.

Gadkari is considered to be an action oriented minister who’s believed to have been quite active in achieving the proposed targets by 2019.

The national elections are due for next year, just 8 months ahead and no concrete or credible progress seems to have been done in this regard till yet.

There have been constant protests and fast unto death hunger strikes by the proponents of clean Ganges movement and two of the saints and environmentalists Swamy Nigmanand and Dr. GD Aggrawal alias Swamy Swaroopanand had already laid down their precious lives after undertaking about 100 days fast demanding pollution free Ganges and complete stoppage to mining along the banks of Ganges and construction of big dams affecting the smooth and constant flow of the ancient river.

As per the report of the swachindia. ndtv till 2017 during the three years only 35 to 40 of the 86 Sewage Treatment Plants have been completed n 1114.75 kilometres of the sewage network completed against the proposed 4031. 41 kilometres. About 64 crematoriums along the banks of the Ganges have also been built to discourage immersion of dead bodies in the river but the achivement seems to be quite less as compared to the actual requirements. Even Ganga Ghats have been modernised in all the five states through which the Ganga flows but the pollution level has hardly shown any improvement as was expected.

According to Vijay Goyal, minister of state for water resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Plan, the remaining work would be completed by 2020. Similarly out of the total 704 polluting industries alongside the Ganges thoroughly inspected by the Ganga River Basin Authority merely 48 industries have been asked to be shut down.

In addition till now only 134 modernised river ghats have been constructed and 3234 villages along the river Ganges made defecation free wheras the target is much much higher.

Ganga which is 2,525 kilometres in length passing through the five states supplies 40% water to the entire populace of the country.

While thousands of crores have been already spent on Ganga rejuvenation plans by successive governments but no credible work seem to have been carried to clean the Ganges .

Till 2017 the concerned agencies and Namame Gange authority could hardly use Rs. 2000 crores roughly in the works related to clean Ganga mission.

Meanwhile , the union government is deliberating with the experts from Germany, Laos, Austria and Egypt among others to evolve a modern n hi tech Ganga River Basin Management Plan.

At a two day workshop convened by the German Society for international cooperation and the National Mission of Clean Gange in New Delhi, the union government discussed the experience of the countries managing foreign rivers such as Danube, Rhine n Mekong. The conference focussed on finding the sources of pollution and ways and means to clean it.

According to the director of the National Mission for Clean Ganga Ranjan Mishra there is already a draft Ganga law in the anvil that is meant to ensure the health and ecological viability of the river and is under active discussion at the ministrial level to be further passed by the union cabinet.

The river basin plan is much more comprehensive said Ranjan Mishra. The joint conference focussed on seven missions for mandatory interventions viz. Ecological restoration, smooth and uninterrupted ( constant ) river flow, Disaster management, Geological safeguarding, Sistainable agriculture, Environmental knowhow n sensitisation.

Prime minister Narendra Modi infact needs to be lauded for his incessant efforts and credible initiatives to ensure that the ancient river is cleaned, made pollution free and rid it of  the increasing onslaughts of hundreds of tanneries, chemical industries supplying highly toxic substances, huge drains throwing poisionous silt in Ganga and the people throwing tons and tons of rubbish including the dead bodies into the river.

But despite all this the spate of progress is too slow with alleged wastage of funds worth thousands of crores since long.

There is more of politics in the Ganges rejuvenation process than the actual execution of credible work. If compared to the rivers of countries abroad the Ganges seems to be in quite and ugly shape n lots needs to be done with the hi tech intervention in collaboration of the foreign companies with expertise than dealing with the issue indegionously.