Cleaning Ganga, Hoodwinking Ganga

 Cleaning Ganga, Hoodwinking Ganga

‘Namami Gange’ is history as the government shifts focus to ‘Arth Ganga’ and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) admits having failed to clean the river

 

Pankaj Chaturvedi

In scathing comments directed at the union government’s flagship Namami Gange project, the Allahabad High Court pulled up the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) for “throwing dust in the eyes” (a Hindi proverb which means hoodwinking others) and doing ‘little work to clean the river’. Very little was visible on the ground, went on to observe Chief Justice’s Bench of the Allahabad High Court in September, 2022. The NMCG had become a tool to disperse money and no one was serious about cleaning the river Ganga, it added.

Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, the high court noted, was the executing agency in the state but claimed it did not have qualified engineers to oversee the projects. The state pollution control board had power to prosecute those responsible for Ganga pollution but seemed reluctant to take any action.

The observation received little media attention although in an earlier hearing last year, the Bench was equally severe. “We all know that thousands of Crores of Rupees have already been spent to clean the river Ganga under Namami Gange Project but with hardly any result”, it noted. Significantly, the case was first filed way back in 2006 in which the petitioner had alleged that water quality in the supposedly holy river was of poor quality and full of pollutants. But although the court has been hearing arguments and poring over reports, with at least four hearings in 2022, not much appears to have changed.

Since 2014, say reports in the media, close to ₹30,000 Crore were sanctioned for the marquee project; they were meant to build and improve sewerage, putting up Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and undertake river rejuvenation activities. Updated estimates from the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) last year indicated that out of 408 projects sanctioned under the programme, 228 had been completed while 132 were still ‘in progress’.  Other reports claim that although Rs 30 thousand Crore were sanctioned, only Rs 20 thousand crore were released and Rs 13 thousand Crore spent till October, 2022. 

Reports submitted to the court by the Pollution Control Board and the UP Jal Nigam, the executing authority in Uttar Pradesh, also point to large scale irregularities. While the task of government agencies have been reduced to sanctioning funds and approving projects, the execution apparently has been left to private bidders with or without any previous experience in the field. Monitoring by government agencies is clearly lax because despite periodic complaints the agencies have not even initiated penal provisions.

The court observed that STPs were being run by private operators and contracts drawn up for them absolved them of any responsibility if the river continued to receive untreated or polluted water. The fine print in the contracts mention that the operators would run STPs to their maximum capacity but would not be responsible if the STPs were fed polluted water ‘beyond their capacity’. No penal clause had apparently been included. Expressing its surprise and dissatisfaction the court had observed that there was no wonder the river remained as polluted as ever.

In February 2021 also a committee comprising representatives of UP State Pollution Control Board, the Central Government and the Amicus Curiae among others had also reported after inspecting various sites that large volume of untreated water was still flowing into the river and huge sums of public money had been wasted. The court had then taken note of complaints that the STPs were shut down by private operators for long periods, presumably to save energy costs, allowing untreated water to pass through.

The committee also apprised the court that use of plastic bags continued to be extensive in the cities on the bank of the river and plastic waste was also choking the sewer lines. The drains were emitting foul smell and the process of treating sewerage water by ‘bioremediation’ did not appear to be effective. What’s more half the existing ‘nallahs’ were either not connected to the STP or, if connected, were overflowing.

***

While the ‘Namami Gange Programme’ has seemingly floundered, the emphasis has shifted from cleanliness and sanitation to what the Government now calls ‘Arth Ganga’, which is geared towards tourism, economic livelihood and conservation. The tourism ministry was tasked to develop a comprehensive plan for developing tourism circuits along the Ganga and promote organic farming and cultural activities.

The rechristened project Arth Ganga officially has six components. The first is chemical-free farming on 10 km on either side of the river and ‘promotion of cow dung as fertiliser through the Gobardhan scheme. The monetisation and reuse of sludge and waste water for irrigation, industry etc. is the second. Setting up haats on river banks for people to sell local products, herbs, medicinal plants and Ayurvedi medicine is said to be the third. Promoting cultural heritage and tourism potential of the river, adventure sports, increased public participation and improved water governance are the other thrust areas.

When, therefore, the Prime Minister flagged off last month the “world’s longest river cruise” at Varanasi, it was widely believed to be a part of the ‘Arth Ganga’ thrust. But no such claim was made by the government. On the contrary, media reports held that the cruise was being conducted by a private company. If they received grants or any other help from the government, such information was not shared.

 

The ‘floating five-star hotel’, as the small cruise ship with a capacity to carry just 36 tourists was described, set off from Varanasi on January 15. Initial reports suggested that it would be a five-month cruise and each tourist would be paying Rs 20 lakhs for the entire package. They also claimed that cruise ship ‘Ganga Vilas’ was booked for the next two years.

 

But by the first of February, Ganga Vilas had already entered Bangladesh on its way to Guwahati. What raised eyebrows were carefully planted claims that no liquor was being served to the Swiss nationals who had booked the cruise and no non-vegetarian dishes either. The alacrity with which the cruise ship was received by government officials at different ports of call also raised eyebrows. When Ganga Vilas, it was found, could not reach the bank of the river at Buxur, because of shallow waters, the district administration arranged for the tourists to be shifted in motor boats and arrange for police escorts to take them around.

 

Other reports from Bihar claimed that the tourists had been advised not to drink or eat any kind of meat while on land because of ‘religious sanctions’ in the land of the Buddha, Mahavira and Guru Gobind Singh.

 

*** The NMCG website acknowledges the failure of Namami Gange in cleaning the river. But it justifies it by pointing to rising population and growing number of industrial units. This passage on the website reads, “Ganga, in some stretches, particularly during lean seasons has become unfit even for bathing. The threat of global climate change, the effect of glacial melt on Ganga flow and the impacts of infrastructural projects in the upper reaches of the river, raise issues that need a comprehensive response.”

It then goes on to admit, “In the Ganga basin approximately 12,000 million litres per day (mld) sewage is generated, for which presently there is a treatment capacity of only around 4,000 mld.” Not a pretty picture after eight years of hype and publicity.   It candidly admits that ‘approximately 3000 mld of sewage is discharged into the main stem of the river Ganga from the Class I & II towns located along the banks, against which treatment capacity of about 1000 mld has been created till date. The contribution of industrial pollution, volume-wise, is about 20 per cent but due to its toxic and non- biodegradable nature, this has much greater significance…the major contributors are tanneries in Kanpur, distilleries, paper mills and sugar mills in the Kosi, Ramganga and Kali river catchments”.

 

NMCG claims that out of the 245 existing STPs in five states along the Ganga, only 226 are functioning. It also claims that these STPs are working at 68 per cent of their capacity. After spending Rs 800 Crore in eight years in Kanpur, UP Pollution Control Board admits that water at various places are highly contaminated.