Govt proposes SPV for setting up sewerage treatment plants in Ganga cities

The Ministry of Urban Development has proposed to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for setting up and maintenance of sewerage treatment plans (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the River Ganga in a time bound manner to check pollution of the river. 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 the River Ganga.
 
This proposal was made at a review meeting on Namami Ganga on January 28, 2015. The meeting was attended by M Venkaiah Naidu (minister of urban development), Uma Bharati (minister of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation), Birendra Singh (minister of drinking water & sanitation), Prakash Javadekar (minister of environment, forests and climate change) and Dr Mahesh Sharma (Minister of Tourism & Culture).
 
As against the sewerage treatment requirement of 3,847 million litres per day 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.
 
M Venkaiah Naidu said that all the six state governments will be consulted and taken on board before going ahead with setting up of STPs as required to treat urban sewerage. To begin with, 56 cities and towns that accounts for about 80% of sewerage generation will be focused in the first phase. He further said that necessary action for setting up SPV will soon be taken. He said that STP capacity would be augmented to meet the 2030 demand.
 
The ministers have noted that the provisions of existing Environment Protection Act are not adequate to address the issue of industrial effluents being discharged into Ganga River and the same needs to be revisited.
 
As a part of stakeholder consultations, a meeting of representatives of all 195 industrial units located alongside river Ganga will be held next month by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change followed by a meeting of Municipal Commissioners of all the 118 cities and towns on February 17, 2015. State-wise consultations will be held in March, 2015.