Plan to Clean Ground Water in 'Namami Gange' | 27 Dec 2022

Why In News?

On December 26, 2022, Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUDCO) MD Dharmendra Singh said that under the Namami Gange project in the state, the work of keeping rivers as well as groundwater clean will start, for which 78 small towns have also been selected.

Key Points

• BUDCO MD Dharmendra Singh said that under this project, the water of drains of 78 small towns of Bihar will also be cleaned and fell into rivers or ponds. The work of building sewerage treatment plants in these cities will start soon.
• It is known that the drain water of many cities in the state is being discharged directly into the rivers. In many cities ponds or low-lying plots are washed away. These small towns or bodies were selected two months ago, which have a total of 138 urban bodies with a population of more than twenty thousand.
• He informed that at present STPs are ready in 26 urban bodies. At the same time, DPR has been approved for STPs in 18 cities or bodies. The DPR of two bodies Buxar and Khagaria is being revised. STP work is also underway in three other bodies - Rajgir, Bodh Gaya and Bihar Sharif. Applications have been sought from agencies for preparation of DPR of STPs in eleven new cities. In this way, the work of constructing STPs for a total of 60 bodies or cities has either been done or is in the process.
• Dharmendra Singh said that the state government is constantly working to keep various water sources including rivers and ponds pollution free. Work is also being done on this under the ‘Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali' Scheme. It has also been decided to build a treatment plant to clean the dirty water of small towns of the state.
• He said that the government has also decided to conduct a survey of all the water sources of the state so that their accurate data is available and a plan is made on the basis of that and these water sources can be developed for fish production. This will not only improve the groundwater level of the state, but also keep the water of the water sources clean.
• Under the project, most of the small bodies will be equipped with FSTP (Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant) i.e. waste treatment plants. At present, when a septic tank is filled in most small towns, it is thrown into drains or thrown into drains at other places through tankers. Now it will be disposed of safely. This will get rid of groundwater pollution. Along with this, organic manure and waste water will also be able to irrigate the fields.