It's mandate is to ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river Ganga by adopting a holistic approach with the river basin as the unit of planning.

Two meetings of the Authority have been held so far. The Authority has taken several measures to improve the implementation of the programme which include constitution of State River Conservation Authorities, independent appraisal of project reports, third party inspection, tripartite memorandum of agreements etc. A comprehensive River Basin Environmental Management Plan for the Ganga is being prepared by a consortium of seven IITs and will be ready by December 2011.

So far, pollution abatement projects of Rs.2,476 crore have been sanctioned under the NGRBA. 70% is the Centre’s contribution and 30% is the contribution of the state government concerned. For 3 years, O&M costs will also be shared 70:30 between the centre and the states with an option to extend the sharing for another two years.

The projects sanctioned in 2009/10 and 2010/11 are for; Uttar Pradesh (Rs.1,314 crore), Bihar (Rs.442 crore), West Bengal (Rs.656 crore) and Uttarakhand (Rs.64 crore) for development of sewer network, sewage treatment plants and sewage pumping stations, electric crematoria, community toilets, development of river fronts etc.

The full list of approved projects is provided in the attachment.

Download the below attachment to read the entire article