Namami Gange : India’s Flagship Programme under PM Modi

Overview of River Ganga

The river Ganga rises in the western Himalayas in the state of Uttarakhand and flows south and east through Gangetic plain of North India. After entering West Bengal, it divides into two rivers, the Hooghly and Padma river. The Hooghly or Adi Ganga, flows through several districts of West Bengal and into the Bay of Bengal near Sagar Island. The Padma river flows into and through Bangladesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganga basin is the largest river basin in India in terms of catchment area (8,61,404 km² ) and covers 11 states: Uttarakhand, U.P, M.P, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Delhi. 46% of India’s population reside along the main stem of Ganga: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Out of the total length of 2525 km Ganga, 450 km passes through Uttarakhand, 1000 km through Uttar Pradesh, 110 km through sharing length (UP-Bihar), 405 km through Bihar, 40 km through Jharkhand and 520 km through West Bengal.

Ganga is not only a holiest river to Hindus, it has some inherent qualities of cultural amalgamation, heritage notions and diversity. It gives vibrancy to many Ghats and Temples and hope to millions for a new phase of life every day. What ails Ganga today is the Urban and Industrial pollution due to discharge of sewage, industrial effluents, religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics, human activities such as bathing, washing clothes, human waste and other pollutants, catchment degradation, bio-diversity loss, Deforestation, failure of pollution control mechanism, governance and mindset of water resources establishment and the people. Today, river Ganga is considered as the sixth most polluted river in the world.

"Namami Gange" Programme

A number of initiatives have been undertaken to clean the river but failed to deliver the desired results. After getting elected, Prime Minister Modi affirmed to work in cleaning the river and controlling pollution by announcing Namami Gange Programme in July 2014 budget.

Namami Gange Programme, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a “Flagship Programme by Government of India in May’15 with an outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore for a five year period. The programme has twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.

The vision for Ganga Rejuvenation constitutes restoring the wholesomeness of the river defined in terms of ensuring “Aviral Dhara” (continuous flow), “Nirmal Dhara” (unpolluted flow), Geologic and ecological integrity.

Namami Gange will focus on pollution abatement interventions namely; Interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater flowing through open drains through bio-remediation/ appropriate in-situ treatment/use of innovative technologies/sewage treatment plants (STPs)/effluent treatment plant (ETPs); rehabilitation and augmentation of existing STPs and immediate short term measures for arresting pollution at exit points on river front to prevent inflow of sewage. The program is expected to deliver socio-economic benefits in terms of job creation, improved livelihoods and health benefits to the vast population on the river.

For effective implementation, the government is focusing on involving people living on the banks of the river to attain sustainable results. The program focuses on involving the states and grassroots level institutions such as urban local bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions in implementation. The program is implemented by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and its state counterpart organizations i.e State Program Management Groups (SPMGs). A three-tier mechanism is used for project monitoring comprising of 1) High level task force chaired by Cabinet secretary assisted by NMCG at national level   2) State level committee chaired by chief secretary assisted by SPMG at state level  3) District level committee chaired by District Magistrate.

The main pillars of Namami Gange Programme:

1. Sewage treatment Infrastructure 
2. River Surface Cleaning
3.  Afforestation
4.  Industrial Effluent Monitoring
5.  River Front Development
6.  Bio-diversity
7.  Public Awareness
8.  Ganga Gram

Its implementation has been divided into:

1. Entry Level Activities: River surface cleaning, Rural Sanitation, Modernization, Renovation of Ghats and Crematoria (for immediate visible impact).
2. Medium Term Activities: Muncipal Sewage Management, Industrial Effluent Management (to be implemented within 5 years of time frame).
3. Long Term Activities: Adequate Waterflow (to be implemented within 10 years).

Efforts are being made to complete Short Term and Medium Term projects by 2020.

The project is being carried out aggressively under the supervision of the Minister for Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari, who said during a press conference in New Delhi on 10^th May’18 that “70 to 80 percent of Ganga would be clean by March 2019”.

The key achievements under Namami Gange Programme:

1. In order to create Sewarage Treatment Capacity, 63 sewerage management projects are under implementation in the states of Uttarakhand, U.P, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal; 12 new sewerage management projects launched in these states.
2. 28 River Front Development projects and 33 Entry level projects for construction, modernization and renovation of 182 ghats and 118 crematoria has been initiated.
3. River Surface Cleaning for collection of floating solid waste from the surface of the Ghats and River and its disposal are afoot and pushed into service at 11 locations.
4. For Bio-Diversity Conservation, projects namely; Bio-Diversity conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation, Fish and Fishery Conservation, Ganges River Dolphin Conservation Education programme has been initiated. Bio-Diversity centers at Dehradun, Narora, Allahabad, Varanasi and Barrackpore has been developed for restoration of identified priority species.
5. Afforestation: Forestry interventions for Ganga through Wildlife Institute of India; Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute and Centre for Environment Education has been initiated. Forestry interventions for Ganga has been executed as per the Detailed Project Report prepared by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun for a period of 5 years (2016-2021) at a project cost of 2300 crores. Work has commenced in 7 districts of Uttarakhand for medicinal plants.
6. For public Awareness, a series of activities such as events, seminars and conferences, Information Education Communication (IEC) activities were organized to make a strong pitch for public outreach and community participation in the programme. Various activities through rallies, campaigns, exhibitions, competitions, plantation drives and development and distribution of resource materials were organized. “Gange Theme Song” was released widely and played on digital media to enhance the visibility of the programme. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) ensured presence at social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.
7. Real Time Effluent Monitoring Stations (EMS) has been installed in 572 out of 760 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs). Closure notice have been issued to 135 GPIs so far and others have been given deadlines for compliance to stipulated norms and for installations of online EMS.
8. Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS) identified 1674 Gram Panchayats situated on the bank of River Ganga in states ( Uttarakhand, U.P, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal). Rs 78 crores has been released to MoDWS for construction of toilets in 1674 Gram Panchayats of 5 Ganga Basin states. Out of the targeted 15,27,105 units, MoDWS has completed construction of 8,53,397 toilets. Consortium of 7 IITs has been engaged in the preparation of Ganga River Basin Plan and 65 villages have been adopted by 13 IITs to develop as model villages. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been engaged as the executing agency for rural sanitation programme and to develop Jharkhand as a model state at an estimated cost of  Rs. 127 crore.
9. Banks of River Ganga are set to get major facelift as several companies like Shipping Corporation of India, Indorama Corporation, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Hinduja group, Arcelor Mittal, New Indian Express, Bajaj Electricals and few others have undertaken CSR projects for Ghat cleaning/crematoria construction and Development, River Surface Cleaning, Solid Waste Disposal, Afforestation, provision of amenities and similar work under Namami Gange.
10. NMCG has bought on board Survey of India, oldest scientific department, to facilitate Ganga Rejuvenation by using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. The project uses Digital Elevation Model (DEM) technology to collect accurate data for river basin management planning and enables identification of entire topography of an area making it easy for policy makers to analyse the data and support decision making process. The data collected and subsequent actions taken by the government can be shared with the local public through geo-portals and mobile apps. The technology will also enable people to send their feedback upto national level thereby providing an interactive and transparent platform.
11. On Rural Sanitation front, all 4465 villages on the bank of river Ganga have been made Open Defecation Free (ODF) and 10,83,688 individual household toilets have been constructed.
12. Five crore plants are being planted along Ganga Basin as part of afforestation drive at a cost of Rs. 112 crores for preventing soil erosion and groundwater recharge.
13. A composite Ecological Task Force with HQ at Allahabad and three companies of 100 men each being raised with Territorial Army. They would take up plantation, public awareness, patrolling of river fronts and monitor river pollution.
14. In an expedition which lasted over a month, a 40 member team led by Everester Bachendri Pal, the country’s first women who reached summit of Mount Everest in 1984, removed 55 tons of garbage from Ganga.