New Delhi: Expressing dissatisfaction with the performance of states in checking the flow of pollutants to Ganga river, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today urged their respective chief ministers to make use of the “adequate” resources available to them to create additional sewage treatment facilities.
Dr Singh also called for immediate action for maintaining the ecological flow of the Ganga, starting with the upper reaches of the river.
“The performance of the states with regard to the operation and maintenance of the existing sewage treatment plants has been tardy. There is under-utilisation of this infrastructure, particularly in the absence of connecting sewerage networks such as branch sewers and house sewer connections,” the Prime Minister said while chairing a meeting of the National River Ganga Basin Authority.
He said the Central government was examining some easing of the funding norms for operation and maintenance works.
Dr Singh pointed out that every day about 2,900 million litres of sewage is discharged into the main stream of the river Ganga from municipal towns located along its banks, whereas the existing infrastructure had a capacity to treat only 1,100 million litres per day, leaving a huge deficit.
“There is adequate funding available to create additional treatment facilities under the National Mission Clean Ganga. I would urge the states to send appropriate proposals for new projects,” he said.
Coming to the industrial pollution, the Prime Minister said action must be taken against the defaulting industries by the State Boards under the powers delegated to them by the Central government. He asked the state governments to strengthen the relevant enforcement mechanisms.
Though industrial effluents were only 20 per cent of the total volume of effluents, they are a cause for major concern because they are toxic and non-biodegradable, he said.
The Prime Minister urged the chief ministers to make an assessment of the situation with regard to both untreated sewage and industrial pollution and present a report to the NRGBA on the situation in their respective states.
“We can then decide what concrete steps are necessary to attend to some of the institutional, administrative and financial problems that may be coming in the way of more effective implementation of pollution control and abatement measures. Many of the things that we could do are self evident and do not require detailed scientific studies. States should earmark adequate resources and give priority to capacity building of urban local bodies,” he said.
The Prime Minister also wanted state governments to make full use of the resources that are available with the NRGBA. He pointed out that projects with an outlay of more than Rs 2600 crore had been sanctioned so far under the NRGBA in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal for creating sewer networks, sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, electric crematoria, community toilets and development of river fronts.
On maintaining the ecological flow of the Ganga, Dr Singh said the Centre had commissioned a study conducted by IIT, Roorkee on the assessment of cumulative impact of hydropower projects in Alaknanda and Bhagirathi Basins up to Devprayag.
Moreover, the Wildlife Institute of India had also made a separate assessment of cumulative impact of hydroelectric projects on aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins in Uttarakhand, he said. These studies, the Prime Minister said, had worked out certain desirable ecological flows.
The IIT, Roorkee report stated that the environmental flow requirement or EFR depends on the stage of development of the area and the societal requirement. The same report recommended that exact values of EFR for every single project for implementation should be established after carrying out detailed measurements of discharge, river cross sections and assessment of impact on biotic life as a result of reduced discharge on commissioned hydropower projects and consultation with the local community. He suggested that the issue of environmental flow requirement as studied and recommended by the IIT, Roorkee Committee as well as the minimum flow required to sustain riverine ecology recommended by the Wildlife Institute of India, should be examined by a multi-disciplinary group, including the concerned state governments.
The group should look holistically at the various options available and recommend broad principles and actions that need to be taken with regard to conservation, irrigation use and running of hydel projects that will ensure uninterrupted flow of the river Ganga, said Dr Singh.
“Based on the recommendations of the group, we will draw up and implement a roadmap for further actions that we need to take,” the Prime Minister said.
Dr Singh said, “We must find the right balance between the need for environmental and ecological conservation of the Ganga and its basin on the one hand and the imperatives of growth and development on the other.” (UNI)