Namami Gange is ensuring a cleaner Ganga: A ground report

So, yesterday Shashi Tharoor Tweeted this completely unrelated (RSS & Ganga) & not so factual tweet (No Work for Ganga’s Restoration)  – 

The one leader who used to appear sensible to me intellectually has lost all his credibility after this tweet. Not only this tweet is derogatory and offensive against RSS but also it says Modi Government has made no difference whatsoever to Ganga which is a blatant lie.

In the end of the January, I was fortunate enough to visit on my first ever tour to Uttar Pradesh that too in the Prime Minister’s Constituency Varanasi for a couple of days and to Prayag (Kumbh) for a day. What I have heard there, what I have seen there and what I have perceived there has a completely different story than what Mr. Tharoor is claiming. I visited Ghats, Sewage Treatment Plants, Kumbh, & not to be missed had an amazing Ganga Boat ride. Here’s what all I have gathered from my tour which I also shared it in a Twitter Thread as a reply to Mr. Tharoor’s blatant lies.

The interesting thing is from 1985-2015 only 4,000/- cr INR has been sanctioned for Ganga cleaning which stands at 20,000 cr INR in 2015-2020 & already projects worth 25,563.48 crore INR sanctioned till 31^st December 2018.

I saw all the work happening under Namami Gange project and the work is truly mind boggling. After dedicated efforts of the Namami Gange team – by July 2019 no sewage will go untreated directly into Ganga in Varanasi. 100% sewage treatment will be completed by July 2019. The interesting thing is that deadline of this project is in Nov 2019 but as per the officials they will achieve this in July only. Currently, only about 30-40 MLD sewage is going into Ganga. Many STP plants are under construction and soon will be in work.

The best part about these projects is these are based on a new concept called Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) in which construction linked payment of 40% will be released in the starting and remaining 60% will be paid over the term of the contract subject to compliance with performance specifications. The contract is of 15 years in which Operation and Management is included. Additional incentives are built in for performance as well as energy efficiency. This will ensure that the work will keep on going for the long term effectively unlike what happened in UPA era where they made STPs but they stopped functioning after sometime. Modi Government is restarting those STPs as well to achieve the target at minimum expense.

If we talk about Prayag, the sewage which comes every day is about 200-300 MLD. Projects around 3000 crores have been sanctioned for STPs to treat this sewage. Already 6 projects have been completed covering almost 119 MLD sewage treatment. In Kumbh 2019, additional efforts has been taken by the Govt. in which many innovative technologies have been used to treat the sewage and keep Ganga clean for the millions of devotees who visited Kumbh. Links of videos:

Out of 131 total sewage infrastructure projects with 4216 MLD capacity 31 are already completed, 64 are I progress and 41 are in tender stage. 

Some people were arguing that WHY ALL THE PROJECTS / PROMISES ENDS AFTER THE NEXT ELECTIONS DATE? People, we need to understand this that from so many years sewage is going into Ganga. Cleaning / Restoration work of Ganga cannot happen overnight. It will take time, it will take proper planning and proper implementation which for sure Modi Government is doing the best.

Not just STPs, Government is reviving Ghats, spreading awareness of cleanliness, cleaning river surface, and involving public participation as well to spread awareness. Afforestation and Biodiversity conservation is another part of the project. While talking to some local vendors on Ghat, they shared that because of Ghat cleaning is helping in their business as now more people visit Ghats.

https://twitter.com/PrasadKarwa/status/1106830162115518464

Not just that! Namami Gange project is using technology at its best. 44 Real-time water quality monitoring station is installed to check the water quality of Ganga. Strict deadlines are been imposed on the contractors to complete the Namami Gange associated projects, even if they are late by 1-day fines are imposed on them. That’s the reason almost all projects are completed before deadlines.

This is all what I got to learn in just 3 days of my visit and I am completely awestruck by this development because what I had in my mind is Ganga is too polluted and nothing can happen now. But today, I see a ray of hope that soon we will see Ganga cleaner. The Namami Gange project is making sure of that.

As the last word to Mr. Tharoor, “If you want more information – I would suggest you go to Ganga & if you would love to just read from your AC room, visit: nmcg.nic.in

Keep calm! Maa Ganga is under restoration.