National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is an initiative launched by the Government of India with the objective of cleaning and rejuvenating the river Ganga.
Over the years, the river has suffered from pollution and degradation, posing serious challenges to its sustainability.
In response, NMCG was established to address these concerns and rejuvenate the river Ganga.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
The NMCG acts as the implementation arm of the National Ganga Council (which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority in 2016).
National Ganga Council was constituted in 2016 under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986, and headed by the Prime Minister of India.
Key Objectives of NMCG:
The primary objective of NMCG is to clean and rejuvenate the river Ganga, ensuring its ecological integrity and providing a clean and uninterrupted flow.
It aims to ensure effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral co-ordination for comprehensive planning and management.
It also aims to maintain minimum ecological flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development.
Challenges in its implementation:
Several sewage treatment plants took time to be commissioned as there were problems with land acquisition.
States were under the impression that building treatment plants was entirely the Centre’s responsibility.
Industrial pollution
Untreated Sewage flow
The problem of illegal and rampant construction near river beds led to encroachment of the river banks, obstructing the river flow.
Violation of ecological- flow (e-flow) of the river mainly due to unscientific construction of hydropower projects.
Poor Governance
Recently in news
In the seven years since the government unveiled its ambitious ₹20,000-crore National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), it has installed treatment plants capable of treating just 20% of the sewage estimated to be generated in the five major States that lie along the river.
This is expected to increase to about 33% by 2024.
According to the latest projections by senior officials in the NMCG, the treatment plants will be capable of treating 60% of sewage by December 2026.
These calculations are premised on sewage to the tune of 11,765 million litres per day (MLD) being generated in the five States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal — through which the river courses.
However, the NMCG plans on setting up sewage treatment plants (STPs) capable of treating about 7,000 MLD of sewage by 2026.
The States are expected to set up the remaining capacity, both on their own, and drawing on separate initiatives by other arms of the Union government.
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