According to sources, the government plans to spend 62 per cent of the Rs 20,000 crore earmarked for the government's 'Namami Gange Programme' to create infrastructure for abating discharge of untreated waste water into the river.
The Union Ministry of Water Resources has identified a total of 118 urban local bodies along the banks of the river where setting up of sewage treatment plant is necessary, of which 50 towns have already been covered.
"We would be issuing tenders for establishing sewerage infrastructure in 68 urban local bodies by next June," an official said, adding that the government was hoping to treat all the untreated sewage discharged into Ganga by 2018-19.
According to officials, about 4,000 MLD of untreated sewage water is being let into Ganga, while 501 MLD of industrial effluents are reaching the holy river everyday.
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As part of its initiative to clean Ganga, the ministry has also approached a social organisation, which has agreed to build community toilets in over 1,600 villages situated on banks river Ganga, the sources claimed.
"We would also be launching three dolphin conservation projects in River Ganga this year," the sources said.
The sources further said that the Centre was contemplating to set up a Ganga Voluntary Corp, wherein small groups of people in the age group of 20-40 years can volunteer to clean the river for a specified period.
This apart, a sum of Rs 400 crore has been allocated for the Ganga Task Force, comprising of four battalions of ex-servicemen, which would be engaged along the river's ghats, the sources said.