NEW DELHI, July 31:
The Government has allocated Rs 20,000 crore for Namami Gange Programme and a timeline set to complete projects, Union Minister Uma Bharti today told the Rajya Sabha.
The obstacles to meet the timelines have also been removed, the Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said while replying to supplementary question by K T Tulsi during Question Hour.
“Will Ganga ever be clean,” Tulsi asked.
Sharing the member’s concern, Bharti said this was the first time that the Modi government has given a timeline and all the issues and obstacles to meet the deadline have been addressed.
Bharti said projects worth Rs 4,000 crore were taken up in previous 29 years, but except one or two projects, the rest are not fully complete. The governmnet has sanctioned 163 projects under the Namami Gange Programme.
The Minister said the BJP-led Government has issued tenders and released funds. “Rs 20,000 crore central fund has been allocated for the development of Ganga-related projects,” she said.
“Under National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), Namami Gange Programme, total 163 projects for various activities such as sewage infrastructure, river front development, ghats and crematoria, ghat cleaning, rural sanitation etc have been sanctioned,” Bharti said.
Of the 163 projects, 41 projects have been completed so far, she said, adding that 86 projects have been sanctioned after 2015. As per the data, 81 projects relate to sewage infrastructure and 59 projects to ghats and crematoria. (PTI)
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