Team Ganga on clean mission.

 Context :- 

he 40-member team of Mission Clean Gange Haridwar-Patna expedition is rafting the choppy waters with elan and has so far managed to collect over 11 tonnes of waste from the holy river and its banks. A joint initiative of TSAF and National Mission for Clean Ganga and sponsored by Tata Steel, the expedition started in Haridwar on October 5 with a cleanliness drive. The team hit the Ganga on October 8. Led by Everester and legendary climber Bachendri Pal, the team is also spreading awareness on cleanliness among students.

National Mission for clean Ganga :- 

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is the implementation wing of National Ganga Council which was set up in October 2016 under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities order 2016. The order dissolved National Ganga River Basin Authority. The aim is to clean the Ganga and its tributaries in a comprehensive manner.

Giving a wider shape to Namami Ganga programme, Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation inaugurated 231 projects worth Rs 20,000 cr related to the construction of Ghats, crematoriums, sewage treatment plants, Afforestation, tree plantation (medicinal plants) and conservation of biodiversity. Rs 196 cr online pollution monitoring system will also be launched. Ganga is the largest river in India with an extraordinary religious importance. Varanasi and Patna situated along its branch are the world’s oldest inhabited cities. Ganga provides water to about 40% of India’s population serving an estimate 500 million people which is larger than any other river. Ganga Gram Yojana is implemented under Namami Ganga Programme. 400 villages along the river Ganga will be developed as Ganga Gram in phase one. 13 IITs have been adopted for 5 villages for the development of Ganga Gram. There is large public participation, science and societal interaction.

Causes of pollution :- 

This is another initiative taken by the government for cleaning river Ganga along with the 1986 launch of Ganga Action Plan. The main causes for the pollution along the river are the increase in the population density and enhanced per capita pollutants discharge into the river. 15,000 million litres of sewage flows into the river untreated every day. This is a huge quantity and this is to be treated upfront. Source of pollution is to be treated. We often emphasise on non point source like surface flow and fertilizer flow from the agriculture fields. The point of source is municipal sewage and industrial waste. During festival season over 70 million people take bath in Ganga over a few weeks. Materials like food, flower and plastics are let into the river. Human impact on Ganga river showed significant rise in water borne diseases including cholera, hepatitis and dysentery.
 

Most of the Ganga’s pollution is due to five States on the river’s main stem — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Approximately 12,000 million litres a day (MLD) of sewage is generated in the Ganga basin, for which there is currently a treatment capacity of just 4,000 MLD. Industrial pollution from tanneries in Kanpur, distilleries, paper and sugar mills in the Kosi, Ramganga and Kali river catchments is a major contributor.

Namani Gange :- 

Namami Gange Programme, an integrated conservation mission, was approved as the flagship programme by the government in June 2016 with a budget outlay of ?20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of the Ganga. Under the project, 8 states are covered. Dept of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation proposes to make 1,674 gram panchayats by the Ganga open defecation-free by 2022, at a cost of Rs 1,700 cr (central share).An estimated Rs 2,958 Crores (US$460 million) have been spent till July 2016 in various efforts in cleaning up of the river.

By: Shashank Shekhar