Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari chaired a review meeting of the ongoing STP Projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal in New Delhi yesterday. Addressing senior officials of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and contractors he directed that all the sanctioned projects in these states should be completed at the earliest.Bihar has 20 sanctioned STP projects in ten towns including 11 in Patna, and one each in Buxar, Barh, Mokama, Naugachia, Sultanganj, Hajipur, Begusaria, Munger and Bhagalpur. The state has a projected sewage generation of 606 MLD by 2035. The existing sewage treatment capacity is 124 MLD. The sanctioned projects will add 538 MLD of sewage treatment capacity . Projects of 216 MLD capacity are ongoing while projects worth capacity of 322 MLD are at various stages of tendering.In Patna, the 11 STP projects worth Rs 3237.69 crore will create total of 350 MLD sewage treatment capacity and lay down 1140.26 km of sewerage lines. The expected sewage load for the city by 2035 is 320 MLD. Once these projects are completed, no sewage water from Patna will flow into river Ganga. These projects will ensure that no untreated water goes into Ganga in Patna and sewer lines reach every household in the town. STP projects will also be taken up in Danapur, Phulwari Sharif, Sonepur, Chhapra, Fatuah, Bakhtiyarpur, Barauni and Kahelgaon in the current year.
West Bengal has 13 sanctioned STP projects in Gayespur, Kalyani, Halishahar, Bhatpara, Barrackpore, Budge-Budge, Berhampore, Nabadwip, Kamarhatim, Baranagar, Howrah, Bally and Kolkata. The state has a projected sewage generation of 1638 MLD by 2035. The existing sewage treatment capacity is 548 MLD. The sanctioned projects will add 295 MLD of sewage treatment capacity . Projects worth 80 MLD capacity are ongoing and projects worth 215 MLD are at various stages of tendering.Jharkhand has two sanctioned STP projects at Sahibganj and Rajmahal. The state has a projected sewage generation of 16 MLD by 2035. The ongoing project of Sahibganj has a capacity to treat 12 MLD while the project of Rajmahal with a capacity of 3.5 MLD is under tendering process.The progress of 39 Ghats and Crematoria projects on the bank of Ganga were also reviewed and officials have been asked to finish all projects by October 2018. In addition, the status of 37 polluting industrial units in Bihar and 41 industrial units in West Bengal situated on the banks of Ganga were also reviewed. While 40 industrial units in the two states have complied with the norms, 9 of these units have been closed. Closure notice has been issued to 10 units and show cause notice to 19 units. Shri Gadkari, along with Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr. Satya Pal Singh, also released the February-March, 2018 issue of monthly magazine ‘Namami Gange’on the occasion and expressed the hope that all the stake holders will put up in their best efforts to realize the dream of our Prime Minister and our Government of making Ganga ‘Aviral and Nirmal.’