River Ganga will be completely clean by March 2020: Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari expressed hope today that the Ganga river will become completely clean by 2020 considering the pace at which its rejuvenation program was going. He said most of the 221 projects under the Namami Gange Mission worth Rs. 22,238cr are at advanced stages of completion. "It's a difficult task, but we will complete," the Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister said.
70-80% of work will be completed by March 2019: Gadkari
"The government's flagship project has progressed well and nearly 70-80% of the work will be completed by March 2019," Gadkari said. He said apart from cleaning the Ganga river, work is also undertaken to clean the tributaries and nallas that flow into the main river.
All projects are done by private players: Gadkari
"All these projects are done by private players and I haven't given any responsibility to any of the corporations. I cannot depend on the government for taking ahead these projects and so we've given the responsibility to the private sector to monitor them using the best IT methods," Gadkari said. He was speaking at an event in Mumbai organized by the Indian Merchants' Chamber.
A little about the Namami Gange project
The Namami Gange Mission consists of 221 projects, 194 of which deal with constructing STPs, rural sanitation, and bioremediation largely spanning Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand, which are responsible for most of the pollution, Gadkari said. Gadkari said over Rs. 3 lakh crore worth road projects, were stalled before he took charge of the Ministry.
Two projects already started under Hybrid Annuity Model
"We introduced the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) in the road sector giving it a boost. Similarly, we introduced the model in sewage treatment and already two projects are under implementation," Gadkari said.
Here are the details of the various projects
Works on two projects (50 MLD in Varanasi and 82 MLD in Haridwar) have been started under the HAM and other projects that are sanctioned include Naini, Jhusi, Phaphamau, Unnao, Shuklaganj, Mathura, Kanpur, Mirzapur, Gazipur, and Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, Digha, Kankarbagh, and Bhagalpur, while in West Bengal, projects sanctioned are Howrah, Bally, and Tolly's Nalla, Kamarhati and Baranagar in West Bengal.
Work started on National Waterway 1: Gadkari
Gadkari said that work has started on the National Waterway 1 project from Varanasi to Haldia and there are plans for four multi-modal transit systems, 16 river ports, nine ferry services, and eight Ro-Ro services. "On the lines of air traffic control, we're starting river traffic control system between Haldia and Patna and we hope to reach Varanasi in one month," Gadkari added.
