8 more towns in Ganga clean-up plan ambit

KOLKATA: Eight new towns in West Bengal have been included in Phase II of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), which now extends to the Damodar river as well. The plan involves cleaning up the rivers and their tributaries.
Four of the eight new towns — Barrackpore, New Barrackpore, Uttar-para-Kotrang and Khardah—are under the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. The project mainly involves interception and diversion of sewerage which falls untreated into the Ganga.A number of sewerage treatment plants and boosting stations are also to be built.
“A sum of Rs 20 crore has been sanctioned for these projects,� state ur-ban development secretary R. Bandyopadhyay said. The Kolkata Metro-politan Water and Sanitation Authority has been selected to implement the project. The decision was taken at a meeting of the GAP steering committee in New Delhi recently.
The National River Conservation Directorate is the nodal agency looking after the implementation of the projects under GAP. The meeting was chaired by union environment secretary V. Krishnan.
Phase I of GAP has recently been declared complete. Under Phase II, 27 sewerage discharge points along the Tolly’s Nullah are being intercepted and diverted towards the main sewerage system, which undergo natural treatment as they flow towards the east Kolkata wetlands. A number of sewerage treatment plants have also been built in the western part of the city to treat the sewage before it flows into the Ganga.
The meeting also declared that Damodar would be cleaned up under GAP Phase II. Four towns along the river — Asansol, Durgapur, Ranigunj and Ondal — have been brought under the project. Funds, however, have not been finalised as the project details are yet to be worked out. “Project re-ports for these towns will soon be worked out and sent for approval,� an urban development department official said.