How Govt Is Planning To Create Smart Cities Along The Ganga

A visit to the ghats in Varanasi would display that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's attempts to clean the Ganga are yielding results. While you can see it for yourself, locals, too, irrespective of their political leanings, would enthusiastically tell you that the holy waters of the river are not as dirty as they used to be before Modi dedicated a whole ministry to work on the sacred river's rejuvenation.

Now, the Water Resources Ministry, led my Uma Bharti, has launched a Smart Ganga City Programme that would, if implemented efficiently, go a long way in keeping the Ganga clean while increasing the water supply.    

Let's look at what is the Centre's plan:

Launched in 10 cities in the first phase, the programme will be initiated in other cities, too. The 10 cities that will be covered in the first phase include Haridwar and Rishikesh and Uttarakhand, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Barrackpore in West Bengal.

The Centre plans to set up and run sewage treatment plants (STP) and improve the drainage system in these cities, based on a hybrid annuity model of a public-private partnership. The Centre will not have states as partners in the programme while district-levels panels will be formed to monitor the implementation of the scheme.

The ministry plans to sign a pact with other ministries to use the recycled water from these sewage treatment plant. By increasing water supply, the STPs will actually provide the government a good return on investment, apart from doing their basic job.  According to official data, the Ganga basin is the largest river basin in India in terms of catchment area, which constitutes 26 per cent of India's land mass and supporting about 43 per cent of its population. If a large part of the water need of this population is met using the recycled water, pollution levels will plummet. This is one highly efficient way to create smart cities.

Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu urged local authorities and people to join the mission to make it a success. This has to be noted that STPs that were set up earlier became a failure because the participation of two change agents remained dismal. It is only when the common man and local authorities take it seriously, the government will be able to make it a reality, which hitherto has only been on paper.

The river front development work will be taken up keeping the local biodiversity and culture in mind. This would ensure greater public participation in the scheme.