‘We Treat Just A Third Of The Sewage And Effluents That Go Into The Ganga’

The government has set itself an ambitious target of delivering a clean and free-flowing Ganga by 2020. Union minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh discusses the numerous obstacles that stand in the way. Excerpts from an interview with Debarshi Dasgupta:

Illegal mining along the Haridwar stretch of the Ganga has emerged as a big threat, hasn’t it?

I have already written to the Uttarakhand CM (Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank) and spoken to him asking him to take action. The state government is empowered to act and it has not unfortunately, for understandable reasons. The mining lobby enjoys high-level political patronage. If the state government continues to be recalcitrant, we may issue them a showcause notice under the Environment Protection Act (EPA).

What explains the generous clearances of dams along the upper reaches of the Ganga?

If I were the CM of Uttarakhand, I’d also feel that my major natural resource is water.

And your ministry approves many of them?

Not all dams have to come to my ministry for clearances. I do not take an ideological position on dams. There are ways to build a dam that is ecologically benign. Many of these projects were not accompanied by a cumulative environment assessment. Had they been done, much of the criticism could have been avoided. We have stopped work on some projects, especially along the Bhagirathi, where work was allowed to continue despite poor planning...we have abandoned the 600 MW Loharinag Pala dam on which Rs 2,000 crore has been spent. We are trying to take corrective measures. Unfortunately, all this should have been done earlier. We are doing a cumulative assessment with a just-released report by IIT Roorkee on the impact of 69 dams along the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda basins (source rivers for the Ganga). On its basis, we have re-stipulated the clearance of the Vishnugarh-Pipalkoti dam by increasing its minimum environmental flow (amount of water needed in a watercourse to maintain a healthy ecosystem) from 3 cumecs (cubic metre per second) to 15 to keep the water flowing through the year. We’ll take a fresh view on other projects too.

Monitoring projects is a big problem for your ministry. Are you looking at alternatives?

We are looking at third-party monitoring seriously, where we will involve civil society members, like those from local engineering institutions. Also, for the first time we are having tripartite memorandums between local bodies, state governments and the Centre so that we are clear about responsibilities.

How has the constitution of the National Ganga River Basin Authority helped?

It has heightened the visibility and the importance of the Ganga. We are getting the required funding. For example, over 15 years Ganga Action Plan (GAP) I and II spent Rs 1,000 crore. In two years the NGRBA has sanctioned projects worth Rs 2,500 crore. But we must not repeat past mistakes. It is very easy to slide into the old model. We do not have a Delhi Metro kind of body, we are stuck with the same UP Jal Board and local municipalities. Right now, we are just able to treat about a third of the sewage and industrial effluent that goes into the Ganga. We want to ensure none of it goes in untreated; it is a gargantuan task. I can’t guarantee success. It would be dishonest of me to say so, particularly given our experience with GAP I and II. They succeeded to the extent that had we not implemented them, the situation would have been far worse. At least we created sewage treatment capacity of 1,000 mld (million litres a day), even though utilisation doesn’t exceed 40 per cent.

Doesn’t Kanpur, especially with its tanneries, pose a major challenge?

We are invoking the authority of the EPA and threatening direct action like closure if they fail to act on our notices. This is the first time action is being taken through the Central Pollution Control Board. This had led to the closure of many industrial units but we have got to put our foot down.