41 projects under Namami Gange Programme completed: Govt

Forty-one of the 173 projects under the Namami Gange Programme have been completed, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
The total number of projects span various activities such as sewage infrastructure, river front development, ghat and crematoria, ghat cleaning, river surface cleaning, afforestation and biodiversity conservation, and rural sanitation.
"Out of the 173 projects, 41 have been completed so far," Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said in a written reply.
In reply to another question, he said a joint inspection team has submitted its report to the National Green Tribunal after visiting the segment of Ganga falling between Haridwar and Kanpur.

"86 major drains have been identified which are directly discharging into River Ganga (30 drains) and its major tributaries, namely, Ramganga (25 drains), Kali-East (26) and Pandu river (5).
"Of the 86 drains, 52 drains were found to be carrying domestic sewage, two were found to be carrying industrial effluent whereas remaining 32 were found to be carrying effluent," he said.
In response to another question, the minister said, as per the 4th Minor Irrigation Census, "about 80,128 water bodies are not in use because of encroachments, urbanisation, polluted water, non-availability of water due to less and erratic rainfall, siltation", among other reasons.