Ganga - pollution abatement works

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New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) The government today said Rs 1387.71 crores are needed to clean the highly polluted Ganga and place it at par with the Thames river in the United Kingdom.

The government has already signed loan agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for further implementation of the pollution abatement works in the river at Varanasi.

Aid has already been sought from JBIC for similar projects at Allahabad, Lucknow and Kanpur.

The foreign aid component mainly from JBIC will be Rs 726.69 crores, Environment Minister A Raja told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

In 1985, Rs 448 crores were allocated and in 2004, Rs 122 crores given for cleaning the river. For the next two years, Rs 153 crores has been allocated, for cleaning the river.

The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase-1, the first attempt of the government to clean the river, was launched in 1985 for treating 882 million litres per day (mld) of sewage and improving its water quality to bathing class standards.

This phase was declared completed in March 2000 by creating sewage treatment capacity of 865 mld. Since GAP-Phase-1 did not cover the pollution load of Ganga fully, GAP-Phase-11 which includes plans for the tributaries of the Ganga namely, Yamunna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahananda, was approved in stages from 1993 onwards, the Minister said.