By IANS,
New Delhi : Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Friday admitted that the Ganga and Yamuna rivers were no cleaner now than they were 20 years ago, despite the government spending “hundreds of crores of rupees”.
The minister also said the pollution load on the major rivers in the country has increased over the years due to “urbanisation and industrialisation”.
“I admit with full responsibility that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner than 20 years ago,” Ramesh said in the Lok Sabha, replying to a calling attention motion on checking pollution in rivers and lakes in the country, moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Yogi Adityanath.
A determined and renewed effort is needed to cleanse these rivers, the minister said, adding he himself did not believe the figures with him on the pollution levels in these rivers.
“For a layman, the answer is a depressing ‘no’,” Ramesh said.
The minister said over Rs.816 crore (Rs.8.16 billion) was spent on two phases of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) and a sewage treatment capacity of 1,007 million litres per day has been created.
The government has spent over Rs.682 crore (Rs.6.82 billion) on the first phase of the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) and in the second phase, another Rs.190 crore (Rs.1.9 billion) has been spent, he said.
Ramesh blamed the urban local bodies for their inability to operationalise the sewage treatment plants.
He said the central government would bear the full cost of operation and maintenance of sewage plants across the country for the next five years.