Centre clears Rs 62crore for cleaning Sal river

NEW DELHI: The central government has approved a project to abate pollution of river Sal at Navelim in Goa at an estimated cost of Rs 61.7 crore.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had in 2015 identified the river stretch at Navelim as one of the 302 polluted river stretches across the country based on bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels - a key indicator of organic pollution showing water quality.

Cost of the project, covering setting up of sewage treatment facilities and sewer network, will be shared equally between the Centre and state government.

The project was approved by the Union environment ministry last week under its National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) which covers 31 rivers (other than Ganga and its tributaries) in 14 states. The pollution abatement measures for Ganga is being managed separately under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) of the water resources ministry.

"The Sal river cleaning project will reduce pollution and improve water quality and sanitation in Navelim town. Idea is to take up the polluted river stretches one-by-one for cleaning under a comprehensive plan in other states as well", said an official.

At present, several projects worth Rs 2,691 crore are being implemented under the NRCP in eight states. It includes pollution abatement of Mula-Mutha river at Pune (estimated cost of over Rs 990 crore) and Sabarmati river conservation phase-II at Ahmedabad (estimated cost of over Rs 444 crore) among others.

Though pollution abatement effort under the NRCP is an old programme, the environment ministry has recently approved a new 'basin management' approach to conserve and clean rivers unlike the current strategy where conservation is limited only to tackling pollution load from domestic waste water and regulation of industrial pollution.

Under the new approach, the projects will take care of entire catchment area of river through multiple measures including rejuvenation of lakes and wetlands, construction of small-check dams to ensure continuous water flow and afforestation.

Low budgetary allocation has, however, been a problem for the NRCP. Though a parliamentary standing committee had twice recommended (254th report in 2015 and 283rd report in 2016) for increase in its budget, the allocation for 2018-19 remained unchanged at Rs 173.50 crore as compared to the year 2017-18.

The new conservation approach will, in any case, not affect the ongoing measures to deal with pollution through construction of new sewage and effluent treatment plants. It will also not affect the Ganga rejuvenation works of the NMCG.