New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) Under the Namami Gange Programme, a total of 524 projects to clean the river have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 43,030 crore, of which 355 projects have been completed till February 2026, Centre told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Minister of State (MoS) for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, in a written reply, said that under the Central Sector scheme a diverse set of interventions for cleaning and rejuvenation of the Ganga river has been taken up.

“These included wastewater treatment, riverfront management, ensuring e-flow, rural sanitation, afforestation, biodiversity conservation and public participation for the rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries,” he added.

“Under the Centrally-sponsored scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for other rivers, pollution abatement works are being undertaken relating to interception and diversion of raw sewage, construction of sewerage systems, setting up of sewage treatment plants, low-cost sanitation, river front/bathing ghat development, for the rivers of the country except rivers, which are part of Ganga Basin,” MoS Choudhary said.

As of now the NRCP has covered 58 rivers in 100 towns spread over 17 states at a total sanctioned cost of Rs 8,970.51 crore, and sewage treatment capacity of 3,019 million litres per day (MLD) has been created.

“Under the National Mission for Clean Ganga, a total of 218 sewerage infrastructure projects costing Rs 35,794 crore have been taken up for the remediation of polluted river areas with a treatment capacity of 6,610 MLD. Also, 138 sewage treatment plant (STP) projects with a capacity of 4,050 MLD have been completed and made operational,” the MoS added.

He said that a “Ganga Knowledge Portal” has also been launched by the National Mission for Clean Ganga, serving as a centralised repository for comprehensive resources on water resource management.

“This platform is engineered to facilitate access for students, research scholars, stakeholders, and the general public to a vast array of materials (1,346 documents), including journals, publications, books, technical articles, research reports; data sets (District River Maps, STP performance and river atlas) and coffee table books,” MoS Choudhary added.

“By concentrating on the intricacies of water resource challenges, Ganga Knowledge portal aims to enhance awareness and foster informed decision-making in this critical sector,” he said.

–IANS

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