Lok Sabha Question No. 19 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-02
Subject: Projects under Namami Gange Programme
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Ajay Kumar Mandal, Ramesh Chander Kaushik, Locket Chatterjee, Sunil Kumar Pintu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †19

ANSWERED ON 02.02.2023

## PROJECTS UNDER NAMAMI GANGE PROGRAMME

## †19. SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK MS. LOCKET CHATTERJEE SHRI SUNIL KUMAR PINTU

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a)  the  details  of  the  progress  of  the  works  carried  out  under  waste  water  treatment,  solid  waste management, river  front  management  (ghats  and  crematorium  ghats  development),  e-waste  disposal, afforestation,  bio-diversity  conservation  projects  under  the  Namami  Gange  Programme  to  rejuvenate the river Ganga and its tributaries, district and workwise, particularly in Haryana and Bihar including Bhagalpur;

(b) whether the said works are lagging behind their stipulated time schedule;

(c) if so, the details of the provisions for taking action against the contractors of the said works; and

(d) the details of the rules framed for quality analysis of the said works?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a) Under  Namami  Gange  Programme,  a  comprehensive  set  of  interventions  such  as  wastewater treatment,  solid  waste  management,  river  front  management  (ghats  and  crematoria  development),  eflow,  afforestation,  biodiversity  conservation  and  Public  Participation  etc.  have  been  taken  up  for rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries. So far, a total of 409 projects have been taken up at an estimated  cost  of  Rs.  32,912.40  Crore,  out  of  which  232  projects  have  been  completed  and  made operational.  Majority  of  the  projects  pertain  to  creation  of  sewage  infrastructure  as  the  untreated domestic/industrial wastewater is the main reason for pollution in the river. 177 sewerage infrastructure projects  have  been  taken  up  with  a  cost  of  Rs.  26,673.06  crore  for  creation  &  rehabilitation  of 5,269.87MillionLitres per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity and laying of around 5,213.49 km sewerage network.  Among these, 99 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in creation & rehabilitation of 2043.05 MLD of STP capacity and laying of 4260.95km sewerage network.

## Projects under Namami Gange Programme in Haryana:

NMCG has sanctioned total 2 Sewerage Infrastructure Projects costing Rs 218 crore in the State of Haryana to create about 145 MLD STP capacity and about 52 km of sewerage network. All projects have been completed.

## Projects under Namami Gange Programme in Bihar (December 2022):

In the state of Bihar, NMCG has sanctioned total 33 Sewerage Infrastructure Projects costing Rs 5732 crore to create about 676 MLD STP capacity and about 1770 km of sewerage network. Out these, 10 projects with Sewage Treatment capacity of approx. 234 MLD and 1134 km of sewer network have been completed. (Specially in Bhagalpur 1 project of 413 crore. has been sanctioned to create 45 MLD STP capacity and is under progress).

In  addition,  19  River  Front  development  Projects  costing  approx.  Rs  510.36  crore  have  been sanctioned to develop 58 Ghats and 10 Crematoria. Out of which, 46 Ghats and 4 Crematoria have been completed.(In Bhagalpur,2 projects of 21.7 crore has been sanctioned to create 2 ghats & 1 crematoria, out of which 1 ghat & 1 crematoria have been completed.)

In  Bihar  for  afforestation  7895-hectare  plantation  has  been  carried  out  under  Namami  Gange Programme for which an expenditure of 97.76 crore has been incurred. As per information provided by State Forest Department, Bihar, in Bhagalpur, forestry works have been carried in 1228.32-hectare area for which expenditure of 39.878 crore has been incurred.

NMCG is adopting  a  basin  approach  to  deal  with  issues  related  to  species  and  their  habitat conservation.  To  address  the  threats  to  the  aquatic  biodiversity  of  Ganga,  Wildlife  Institute  of  India (WII), Dehradun was awarded a project in the year 2016 for developing a science-based aquatic species restoration plan for Ganga River by involving multiple stakeholders. Recently, a more comprehensive project under phase II has been awarded to WII for scaling up the research over the entire Ganga basin from Uttrakhand to West Bengal including  that for Bhagalpur, Bihar.

(b) The sanctioned projects under the Namami Gange Programme have picked up pace after initial 2 Covid  phases  and  are  expected  to  get  completed  within  their  project  specific  timeline.  Continuous monitoring of the projects is done at various levels by State executing agencies. In addition, periodic review is taken at the level of DG, NMCG and Secretary of DoWR ,RD & GR to expedite the progress of  projects  including  resolving  the  bottlenecks  (like  various  permissions,  land  NOC,  forest  clearance etc.), resulting in completion of 26 STP projects with creation of approx 1,000 MLD in the year 2022 (January-December).

(c) NMCG Contracts are managed as per provision in the contract and necessary actions are taken on case-to-case basis including (i) Liquidated damage(LD) for delay in construction (ii) penalty for substandard quality of construction (iii) penalty for not meeting the key performance indicator(KPI), if any laxity is observed at the contractor's end.

(d) Quality analysis (QA) & Quality Control (QC) is a continuous process for NMCG projects which is undertaken  as  per  standard  protocols,  Bureau  of  Indian  Standards  and  following  best  engineering practices.  A  three  tier  mechanism  is  followed  which  includes  (i)  QA  &  QC  at  the  level  of developer/concessionaire  (ii)  QA  &  QC  monitoring  by  State  Executing  Agencies  (iii)  quarterly inspection by Third Party Inspection (TPI) agencies like IIT/ other reputed institutes appointed by State Executing  Agencies.  In  addition  NMCG  also  appoints  Project  Engineer  (PE)  for  HAM  projects  for effective construction supervision and timely completion of projects.