Ganga Cleaning Drive: Over Rs. 3,600cr in last 3 years
The Minister of State for Water Resources Satyapal Singh informed the Lok Sabha that the government has released Rs. 3,633 crore between 2014-15 and 2016-17 for cleaning the Ganga river and beautifying its ghats. He said the construction and beautification of 228 of the total 361 ghats sanctioned have been completed till now under the Centre's Namami Gange programme. Here are more details.
228 ghats of Ganga cleaned so far
Of Ganga's 228 ghats where the work has been completed, 189 are located along the river's stretch in West Bengal; UP has 20 ghats, Bihar has 16, Uttarakhand (2) and Jharkhand (1). The Minister said 154 priority drains and 1,109 grossly polluting industries (GPIs) were also identified along Ganga. Of the five basin states, the longest stretch of the Ganga is in Uttar Pradesh.
Steps taken by govt to decrease pollution in river Ganga
Highlighting the steps taken by the government to abate pollution in the river, the Minister said, "Surprise inspection of GPIs is carried out for compliance verification of the stipulated environmental norms." Out of the 1,109 GPIs inspected, 538 were found to be non-complying, and 358 of those were issued closure directions and 180 have been given show cause notices.
