Urban Development Ministry has proposed to set up a time-bound Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for establishment and maintenance of Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the River Ganga to check its pollution.
The SPV will ensure that demand-supply gap in respect of sewerage treatment in urban areas will be met in line with timeframe for cleaning of the River Ganga.
The entire cost for setting up the STPs along the Ganga will be borne by the Centre.
The SPV proposal was made at a review meeting on 'Namami Ganga' today at the meeting held here, which was attended by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharati, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Birendra Singh, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma and Secretaries of respective ministries.
The ministers discussed Action Plans for treatment of sewerage with timelines, rehabilitation of dysfunctional and sub-optimal STPs, plans for bridging mismatch between existing treatment capacity and the demand, capacity building of urban local bodies, modernization of existing crematoria, adoption of innovative technologies developed by BARC and IITs, said a release.
As against the sewerage treatment requirement of 3,847 million litres per day (MLD) in all the 118 cities and towns in 2015 and the estimated demand of 4,773 MLD in 2030, the present available capacity is only 879 MLD while another 1,263 MLD capacity is under construction.
The gap in demand and supply is 1,852 MLD at current demand and 2,664 MLD at 2030 demand, said a release.
Naidu said that all the six state governments along the river will be consulted and taken on board before going ahead with setting up of STPs as required to treat urban sewerage.
