Lok Sabha Question No. 1570 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-03
Subject: Conservation of Rivers and Lakes
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: PANKAJ CHOWDHARY

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1570

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.05.2016

## Conservation of Rivers and Lakes

1570. SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY:

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

- (a) the total number of projects sanctioned under National River Conservation Plan and  National  Lake  Conservation  Scheme  in  the  country  and  the  number  of  projects completed  out  of  these  along  with  the  number  of  those  projects  which  could  not  be completed;
- (b) whether any shortcoming has been identified in the said schemes;
- (c) if so, whether the Government proposes to formulate a fresh plan/ programme for the conservation of rivers and lakes in the country; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a)  to (d) This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in  abatement  of  pollution  in  identified  stretches  of  various  rivers  under  National  River Conservation  Plan  (NRCP)  and  NGRBA  (National  Ganga  River  Basin  Authority) programmes. The NGRBA programme along with work of Ganga & its tributaries is with Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation from 01/08/2014 onwards. The programmes of NRCP & NGRBA (till 31/07/2014) have  so far covered    polluted  stretches  of  43  rivers  in  200  towns  spread  over  21  States  at  a sanctioned cost of ` 12202.59 crore and sewage treatment capacity of 5169 million litres per day (mld) has been created so far under these two programmes. Under the NRCP (excluding  Ganga  and  its  tributaries),  265  schemes  have  been  completed  out  of  352 schemes sanctioned so far.

The Government has in 2014 also initiated an Integrated  Ganga  Conservation Mission - 'Namami Gange' under the NGRBA programme for consolidating the ongoing efforts & planning for an integrated and comprehensive action plan for rejuvenation of Ganga and its tributaries.

For conservation and management of identified lakes and wetlands in the country, this Ministry had been earlier implementing two separate programmes, namely National Lake  Conservation  Plan  (NLCP)  and  National  Wetland  Conservation  Programme (NWCP).  To have better synergy and to avoid overlap, both the programmes have been merged  in February, 2013  into a new  integrated scheme  of  National Plan for Conservation  of  Aquatic  Eco-systems  (NPCA).  So  far  projects  for  conservation  of  63 lakes in  14  States  have  been  sanctioned  at  a  total  cost  of ` 1096.09 crores under the NLCP/NPCA, and work of 33 lakes has been completed.

Implementation of works in some NRCP & NLCP schemes have been delayed due to issues relating to land acquisition, court cases,  cost over-runs and other local administrative reasons. Several measures taken to improve implementation of projects under  NRCP  &  NLCP  include  (i)  signing  of  a  Tripartite  Memorandum  of  Agreement (MoAs) with the State Government/urban local bodies for ensuring timely implementation of projects and proper operation & maintenance of assets created (ii) independent  appraisal  of  Detailed  Project  Reports  by  reputed  professional/academic institutions & (iii) Third Party Inspection for projects.

****