Lok Sabha Question No. 164 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-03
Subject: Air and Water Pollution in Gorakhpur, UP
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Ravindra Shukla Alias Ravi Kishan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.164

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2025

## Air and Water Pollution in Gorakhpur, UP

## 164.   SHRI RAVINDRA SHUKLA ALIAS RAVI KISHAN:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  air  and  water  pollution  in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) whether there are any initiatives to improve waste management and recycling in urban and rural areas of Gorakhpur and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the efforts made to preserve wetlands and natural habitats in the said district, especially around the Ramgarh Taal area; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  implemented  any  programs  to  raise  awareness  about environmental conservation in Gorakhpur and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

## (a) to (d)

Government has launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a national level strategy to reduce air pollution levels across the country. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has  identified  130  non-attainment  cities/  million  plus  [cities  exceeding  National  Ambient  Air Quality  Standards  (NAAQS),  consecutively  for  five  years]  including  Gorakhpur  city  of  Uttar Pradesh. City  Specific  Clean  Air  Action  Plans  have  been prepared  and  rolled out for implementation in all these 130 cities.

These city specific clean air action plans target city specific air polluting sources like Soil & Road Dust, Vehicles, Domestic Fuel, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Burning, Construction Material and Industries with short-term priority action as well as those to be implemented in a medium to longer time frame along with the responsible agencies.

Performance based fund of Rs. 66.87 Cr under NCAP has been released to Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in the period from FY 21-22 to FY 23-24 for gap funding of activities of clean air action plan. As per the information available on Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in NonAttainment cities (PRANA), following actions have been undertaken utilizing NCAP funds by Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation for control of Air pollution and waste management:

-  End-to-End paving of roads along with black-topping and maintaining potholes free roads.
-  Regular cleaning of street surfaces and spraying of water to suppress dust.
-  Regular collection, segregation and scientific disposal of municipal solid waste
-  Greening of traffic corridors, open areas, gardens, community places, schools and housing societies

CPCB in collaboration with State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) in the States, and Pollution Control  Committees  (PCCs)  in  Union  Territories  has  established  a  National  Water  Quality Monitoring  Network  (NWMP)  in  order  to  regularly  assess  status  of  water  quality  of  water resources to facilitate  prevention  and  control  of  pollution  in  water bodies.  There  are  06  water quality monitoring locations under NWMP in Gorakhpur district, 02 locations on River Rapti, 01 location on River Ghaghara, 01 location on Ramgarh Taal and 02 locations of groundwater.

As per the information received from Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Gorakhpur Forest Department, the initiatives for improving waste management and recycling in urban and rural areas of Gorakhpur are given below:

-  District Environment Plan has been prepared for waste management in the district.
-  100% door to door garbage collection is done in 80 wards of the city. Source segregation is done at the local site by the municipal corporation and multi-storey residential welfare society, where wet garbage is put into a compost pit to make compost and dry garbage is sent to the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) center.
-  The civil work of the processing plant for solid waste management in Suthni has been completed. In the said work, NTPC has proposed to make charcoal from garbage and the contract process for the said work has been completed. The tender process for making charcoal from garbage by NTPC has been completed and the firm has started the work and 25% of the work has been completed by NTPC.
-  Construction of 50 TPD Construction and Demolition waste Processing Plant at Mahesara has been completed and the plant has started operation.

The efforts made to preserve wetlands and natural habitats in the Gorakhpur district inter-alia includes  installation  of  STPs  in  Gorakhpur;  initiation  of  pilot  project  for  the  conservation  of selected wetlands of the district; identification and sealing of illegal constructions/development works; and formation of Village Wetland Committee for the conservation of wetlands at the Gram Panchayat level, etc.

Further, following programs have been implemented in Gorakhpur to raise awareness towards environmental protection:-

-  Project  Monitoring  Unit  (PMU)  has  been  formed  to  conduct  Information  Education  and Communication (IEC) activities under Swachh Bharat Mission.
-  Various activities are conducted in Educational Institutions for environmental protection and tree plantation under Swachhta Pakhwada.
-  A three-day  film  festival  on  'Eco-tourism,  forest,  wildlife  and  environment'  was  organized under the Gorakhpur Festival in which students from various schools participated.
-  The general public took the Shramdaan and Swachhata Pledge for cleanliness at the Rohin river ghat located at village Mirpur, Jungle Nath Kaudia under the 'Swachhata hi Seva' program on 23.09.2024. A Swachhata Rally, Swachhata Pledge and Painting Competition was organized at GCMD Inter College, Village Chandbari, District-Gorakhpur on 24.09.2024.
-  A debate competition was organised at St. Andrews College to make students aware of the environment on the occasion of World Youth Day.