The Clean Ganga Programme: Where Do We Stand Now?

By Deepak Parvatiyar

June 27, 2015

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Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/clean-ganga-programme-stand-now/)

On 5 June, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi rued that Ganga “cannot be cleaned even in next 50 years, the way the river was being cleaned…”

Perhaps this was the sharpest criticism of the Modi government by any member of the Parliament over the cleaning of the holy river – one of the topmost agenda of the government as enshrined in the BJP manifesto.

Loopholes in Implementation of Clean Ganga Project

The government has given utmost priority to cleaning of Ganga. Creating a dedicated ministry under Uma Bharti for the purpose shows Modi’s commitment to the cause but the task is onerous due to many reasons. Already, crores of rupees have gone down the drain in the name of cleaning Ganga over the years. The Ganga Action Plan (GAP), which was launched way back in January 1986, failed to improve the water quality of Ganga in spite of pumping in a whopping Rs 9017 million (source Wikipedia) into the project. The plan was subsequently withdrawn on 31 March 2000 and was replaced by GAP phase II projects that were approved in stages from 1993 onward and included the following tributaries of the Ganges: Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahananda. Two decades later, there is no impact of GAP-2 either!

Soon after winning his Lok Sabha seat from the holy city of Varanasi in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to serve the Ganga after attending a Ganga “aarti” at the Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi. Even after a year, Ganga remains highly polluted. Considering the Herculean task – it will require a Bhagirath effort to clean Ganga – a year is hardly enough to clean the river. Yet, as reports suggest, the beginning is not all that auspicious. The plan for real-time monitoring of the Ganga has failed to take off and even the Central Pollution Control Board has failed to install its 113 monitoring stations along the river in spite of the 30 June deadline set up by the water resources ministry. The CPCB, reportedly, blames the concerned states for not yet floating tenders for the required equipment!

Issues Creating Roadblocks in Cleaning the Ganga

This explains to an extent what makes cleaning of the Ganga such a huge task. Thus far, the very fundamentals of cleaning the river have been faulty and full of roadblocks. For example, while the Ganga flows 1300 km in Uttar Pradesh, the state, till now, had done no “scientific assessment” of the causes of pollution of the river in the state. It is only in the last few months that the state has started assimilating all relevant data and got into mapping its water bodies for the purpose. The same is the situation in other states that fall in the Gangetic plains.

“It is important to make a plan for the next 25 years,” concedes a senior bureaucrat.

There are administrative as well as policy issues. The lack of say of the irrigation department in urban areas, the ever increasing urban population, non-compliance of industries with the pollution norms, ineffectual law enforcing agencies such as pollution control boards, obsolete and non-functioning sewerage treatment plants that are land demanding, are some of the pressing concerns. Officials at the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation and Water Resources department concede that even the municipalities that fall in the routes, too, discharge untreated sewage in Ganga and its tributaries.

Debate on the Need for Small Dams on the Ganga

There is still a debate going on whether small dams are required on Ganga to increase the water flow and conservation or not. Many experts are of the view that small rubber dams – that help prevent siltation and already being used in China – could ensure good water flow that can take care of pollution in the running stream. However, many, including some top government officials, oppose any dam on grounds that “river is an eco-system”.  Recently, even Uma Bharti asked different ministries including environment and power to take a cautious approach while allowing construction of any new dam on the river on grounds that constructing new dams will hamper the mission to clean Ganga.

Serious Challenges Facing the River Ganga

While industrial pollution is one big reason, several tributaries of Ganga, too, are highly polluted because of industries discharging effluents into them.  The enormity of the task can be comprehended by the fact that presently, only one-third of residents in urban areas are connected with sewer.

Hence, it could well be anyone’s guess as to what will happen to rivers (Ganga included) if all residents get sewerage connection amidst the projected rapid rate of urbanisation. Latest government estimates suggest that less than five per cent of waste water is treated in the country. The government now plans to come out with important guidelines for sustainable urban development with a thrust on less usage of water and treating sewerage at the “local point” itself including the residential colonies.

Yet, there are several other challenges including large-scale encroachment of the river bed, illegal sand mining and setting up of six contentious hydro power projects in Uttarakhand – from where Ganga originates at Gangotri – could seriously affect the ecological-flow of the holy river.

A firm government resolve alone could tackle such issues.  Last year, the Centre set up “Clean Ganga Fund” (CGF) to accept “voluntary contributions” from residents, non-resident Indians (NRIs), Person of Indian Origin (PIO) towards cleaning of the river Ganga, in addition to the “Namami Gange” (Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission) project for which an initial sum of Rs 2,037 crore had been allocated in the current financial year in the 2014-15 Union Budget.

Cleaning the Ganga, the government now realizes, still requires huge investment and involvement of all stakeholders including government, water experts and the public.

“If the government alone does the job, it will cost us Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh crore to clean the Ganga. From where will this money come? So, all of us will have roles – the government, you, people,” Shashi Shekhar, Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, recently said.

Observations of the ‘Waterman of India’

To make Ganga clean, active participation of the public and activists is essential in the wake of the phenomenal rise of various vested interest groups that exploit Ganga and its various territories, showing little concern to the rights of these rivers. Stockholm Water prize as well as Magsaysay Award winning water conservationist Rajendra Singh, popularly regarded as the ‘Waterman of India’, cautions that the clean Ganga project could be a non-starter unless there is an effort to clean the tributaries of the holy river.  “… we should first focus on cleaning rivers such as  Hindon, Krishni, Kali, Yamuna before cleaning  Ganga. This should be the present challenge before the State, Industrialist and Society,” he says.

Earlier in June, Singh had organised a ‘Hindon-Yamuna-Ganga Panchayat’ in New Delhi which was attended by top government officials from the Centre as well as Uttar Pradesh, and water activists from across the country. After day-long deliberations on the ways to protect these rivers, the panchayat made some important points:

• Water User Master Plan should be prepared at gram panchayat level in close coordination with community including women, socially excluded groups and panchayat bodies.
• Youth / Student should be engaged in the processes of grass-roots action after educating them about river rejuvenation and water agenda.
• Local knowledge and community decision need to be considered during preparation of water structure of government fund. Responsibility should be transferred to Gram Sabha and line department. Gram Panchayat should function as cooperation body only.
• Responsibility should be given to local Village Water Committee / Mohalla Committees for checking vaporisation of water sources.
• Plan should be made at the district level and transparency exercise should be planned in consultation with panchayat and community members.
• Plantation should be done in green areas of the river for reducing negative impact of climate change.
• River March should be planned for creating awareness and involving community members in the process of River Rejuvenation.

The Uttar Pradesh Government should prepare a River Policy towards rejuvenation of river in the state and focus on increasing water in river, reducing pollution and treating pollution. The state government should work towards identification, demarcation and notification of river as per red (High flood plain), blue (water flowing) and green (flood plain) areas of the respective river. Red, blue and green areas of river should not be changed for any other purposes or property rights of the same.

The “Panchayat’s” thrust on the ground-level planning and implementation to clean river Ganga seems realistic. After all, Deepak Singhal, Principal Secretary in the UP government’s department of irrigation and water resources, did say in the panchayat – “There is no lack of political will but it needs to be included on ground”. This is what is required to clean the rivers – our lifeline!