Ganga Action Plan

Ganga Action Plan 

                                                                    By: Sabir Chdhry    

Before understanding the Ganga Action Plan, let us first read some important facts about the river Ganga.

The River Ganges

Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers confluence near the town of Devprayag, located in Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, after this confluence, we know the new combined river as Ganga river. About 40% of India's population lives in the river basin formed by the river Ganges.

The river Ganga flows for about 2525 kilometers from its source to its mouth in the Bay of Bengal, during this flow, the sewage of the big cities , waste from industries and other sources, falls in the Ganga river throughout its course.  Keeping these facts in mind, the Government of India had started the Ganga Action Plan.

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Objectives of Ganga Action Plan 1

When the Ganga Action Plan 1 (GAP) was launched in June, 1985, its main objective was to bring the water of the river Ganga to acceptable standards by stopping the polluted debris flowing into the river Ganga by the cities located on its banks . In the meeting of the Monitoring Committee in June 1987, it was decided that under GAP, the water quality of river Ganga would be brought under the category of bathing level. The following goals were set in this meeting

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1. Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)                           3 Mg/L Maximum
2. Dissolved Oxygen (DO)                                                   5 Mg/L Minimum
3. Total Coliform                                                                  10,000 Per 100 ML
4. Faecal Coliform                                                                2500 Per 100 ML

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States and cities covered under Ganga Action Plan 1

States - Uttar Pradesh (8 cities), Bihar (4 cities) and West Bengal (15 cities)

Cities covered under Ganga Action Plan

Cities of Uttar Pradesh – Haridwar, Rishikesh, Faridabad, Fatehgarh, Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi and Mirzapur

Cities of Bihar - Chhapra, Bhagalpur, Munger and Patna

Cities of West Bengal – Baharampur, Nabadwip, Hooghly Chinsura, Chandan Nagar, Serampore, Bally, Kalyani, Bhatpara, Titagarh, Panihati, Howrah, Calcutta, Baranagar, Kamarhati and Nayahati

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Ganga Action Plan 2

In the year 1995, the Ganga Action Plan was merged into the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). 7 states of India (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana) come under Gap 2.

Objectives of Ganga Action Plan 2

The main objective of Gap 2 was to improve the water quality of river Ganga and present it as an example for other rivers of the country. Under this, the quality of the water of the tributaries of river Ganges was also to be improved, because the water of the tributaries discharge their water in the river Ganga itself. For Gap 2, the state government and the central government had to contribute equal amounts of money. After April 1997, the central government took full responsibility for this. After April, 2001, the financial contribution between the Central Government and the State Government was fixed in the ratio of 70 and 30.

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Author: Sabir Chdhry 

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