NMCG approves rejuvenation projects of 6 polluted river stretches in Uttarakhand

New projects of rejuvenation of six polluted river stretches in Uttarakhand were approved at the 36th Executive Committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), chaired by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, NMCG.

As per an official statement issued on Friday, sewerage projects for Ganga towns in Uttarakhand have already been completed in the state for pollution abatement along the Ganga under the Namami Gange program and the Mission has been focusing on the rejuvenation of tributaries of the Ganga with priority on the polluted stretches.

As per the report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), identifying polluted stretches of the rivers in the country, there were a total of nine polluted stretches in Uttarakhand state and six of them were in district Udham Singh Nagar on various tributaries or small rivers such as Bhela, Dhela, Kichha, Nandor, Pilankha and Kosi and two stretches were on Rispana-Bindal and Suswa, which are being covered in the I&D Rispana_Bindal project which is under execution under the Namami Gange Programme, while one stretch was on main river Ganga (downstream Jagjeetpur) already covered by the Jagjeetpur STP project.

"The progress of action plan of states for polluted stretches are being reviewed by the central monitoring committee," read the statement.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti also recently reviewed these projects and the state government at the Ministerial level also made a representation to him.

The proposals from State Mission, Uttarakhand for these polluted stretches have been under review by NMCG and were finalised and taken up for consideration by the Executive Committee of the NMCG on July 16, 2021. It has approved the project of "Interception & Diversion (I&D) and STP work of 06 nos. Polluted River Stretches to Rejuvenate Rivers Bhela, Dhela, Kichha, Kosi, Nandhore, Pilakhar and Kashipur. Sewerage (I&D) Scheme (Dhela River) Phase-1 of District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand" under Namami Gange Programme at a sanctioned cost of Rs 199.36 crores. The project will ensure the tapping of a total of 17 Nalas which will be intercepted and diverted to 9 STPs to be constructed under this project for a total treatment capacity of 30.30 MLD.

The project shall cover the 6 polluted river stretches in the Kumaon region. Out of the rest 3 polluted stretches, a project of Ganga at Jagjeetpur, Haridwar has already been commissioned and on the remaining two, Namami Gange projects are already under execution. With this project, all the polluted stretches in the state of Uttarakhand have been covered under pollution abatement projects.

An important and progressive feature of the project is comprehensive sludge management arrangements and provision for co-treatment of septage in all these STPs, they said.