Varanasi Gets Advanced Sewage Treatment Plant, Only Treated Water Will Now Fall Into Ganga

Varanasi: With the aim to conserve and rejuvenate the river Ganga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Uttar Pradesh on Monday (October 25) inaugurated a new state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant of 10 MLD capacity in Varanasi. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is ensuring that a wide network of sewage treatment plants is set up to tap the flow of dirty water into the Ganga, so as to ensure the “nirmalta” (cleanliness) and “aviralta” (easy flow) of the holy river.

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The Namami Gange Mission is emphasising on the construction of such sewage treatment plants that can meet the requirements of the next 10-15 years, as well as rejuvenation of the entire flow area of the Ganges instead of just a few cities and towns.

The Ministry said the sewage treatment plant at Ramnagar in Varanasi is one of the first of its kind plant that is built on the latest A2O (Anaerobic-Anoxic-Anoxic) technology. The special feature of this plant with 10 MLD capacity is that the polluted water will be treated with modern and advanced equipment from different countries and only treated water will now fall into the Ganga river.

The foundation stone of the sewage treatment plant was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 12, 2018. A total of Rs 72.91 crore has been spent on its construction. With the opening of this plant, there will be a complete stoppage on the contaminated water falling into the Ganga from a total of five drains of Varanasi.

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The Ministry of Jal Shakti said the project takes care of the operation and maintenance of the sewage treatment plant for the next 15 years. Filters imported from abroad have been installed for the plant which will purify the contaminated water. This purified water will be released into the Ganga through the main pumping station.

Some other equipment, including the main pumping station, has been imported from abroad so that the contaminated water can be treated in advanced ways. Notably, Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Besides the sewage treatment plant, PM Modi on Monday also inaugurated eight holy kunds (ponds) in Varanasi. These kunds include Kalaha, Dudhiya, Lakshmi, Pahariya, Panchkosi, Kabir, Rewa and BakhariaKunds. The conservation and beautification work of these ponds has been done under the National Mission for Clean Ganga through ‘Clean Ganga Fund’. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, these kunds are traditional man-made water bodies, which act as important sources of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge for the region. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early next year.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.