New Delhi: The Namami Gange project, launched by PM Narendra Modi government in 2015, has yielded results as per the Department of Water Resources that comes under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien on Monday asked a question in the parliament about the improvement in pollution levels in Ganga from 2015 till date.
Replying to his question, Minister of State Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said that cleaning of river Ganga is a continuous process and National Mission for Clean Ganga is implementing various projects for conservation and rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries.
As per CPCB data for 2021, the observed water quality of river Ganga indicates that dissolved oxygen (DO), which is an indicator of river health, has been found to be within acceptable limits of notified primary bathing water quality criteria and is satisfactory to support the ecosystem of the river for almost the entire stretch of the river Ganga. None of the stretches of Ganga is in the 1 to 4 priority categories and only two stretches are in category 5 with Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) ranging between 3-6 mg/l as per CPCB categorization of polluted stretch. The CPCB data shows that overall water quality has definitely improved in comparison with 2015 at as many as 97 locations.
Responding to the question on the number of Covid-19 related dead bodies estimated to have been dumped in the Ganga, the minister said that no such information is available with the ministry. Sharing the reply of the Ministry on social media, TMC MP Derek O'Brien took a jibe at the government for not having information on the issue.
"Government clueless on my unstarred question in Parliament on Namami Gange. No information on the number of Covid-19 related dead bodies dumped in Ganga or the deadline to clean Ganga, but expenditure on publicity is ₹ 126 Crore" he said in his statement.
