New Delhi: Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari today presided over the ceremony of signing of concession agreement for sewage treatment infrastructure in Kanpur under One-City-One-Operator concept and Hybrid Annuity Mode between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), UP Jal Nigam and the private concessionaire – consortium of M/S Shapoorji Pallonji and Company limited & SSG Infratech Limited.
Addressing the gathering, Gadkari said that the dream of clean Ganga is now within reach as positive changes are visible on the ground as a result of the steps taken towards cleaning the river.
Gadkari said that a total of 73 projects have been sanctioned in Uttar Pradesh under Namami Gange at an estimated cost of Rs. 9,934 crores,,. Out of which, 13 projects are complete and others are at various stages of implementation.
Congratulating the Ministry and NMCG for their work, Gadkari said that the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) is a success story in this sector. Six projects (Haridwar, Varanasi, Mathura and Kanpur, Allahabad and Farrukhabad) have been awarded under this model and many other projects are at various stages of execution. He added that robust monitoring is being done for the projects.
Underlining the importance of cleaning the tributaries of Ganga, Shri Gadkari said that 11 projects are being taken up in the National Capital for River Yamuna. Besides, projects are being taken up on other tributaries of Ganga as well under the Namami Gange programme.
The Minister also added that people’s participation is very important for Clean Ganga Mission, and called upon the media to generate awareness in this regard.
Kanpur City has a current sewage generation of about 37.5 crores litres per day and this is expected to increase to 46 crores litres per day in 2035 as per the population growth. The existing treatment capacity from 6 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) is 45.7 Crore litres per day. Unnao, Shulaganj and Bithoor generate about 18.3 Crores litres per day of sewage.
A major achievement in Kanpur city has been the diversion of waste water from Sisamau drain. This drain has been a sewerage conveyance channel since 1890s. This drain has a network of multiple tributary drains with total length of approximately 13 km and discharges nearly 14 Crores litres per day of untreated sewage into river Ganga. Under Namami Gange, NMCG has approved a project worth Rs 63.80 crores in 2016 for diverting the sewage from this drain along with other 5 drains – Permiya, Guptarghat, Dabka, Nawabganj and Muirmill to the Bingawan and Jajmau STP for treatment.
Among the other 5 drains to be intercepted as part of the project, work on 3 drains namely Dabka, Nawabganj and Muirmill has been completed while work on other two drains namely Permiya & Guptarghat drains will be completed by December 2018.
Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri U.P. Singh, Chairman, Central Water Commission Shri S. Masood Hussain and Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, were also present on the occasion.
