By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Nearly a decade after finding faults in the implementation of Namami Gange, the flagship programme to clean Ganga, the comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its latest report has again found umpteen anomalies in the project.
In 2017 also, the CAG has pulled up the government for unused funds, the absence of long-term plan and the lack of pollution abatement work in the Namami Gange programme which was launched in 2014 with an outlay of Rs. 20,424.82 crore.
The CAG said during 2018-23 when the performance audit of the programme was carried out, the centre provided Rs 1000 crore of funds to Uttarakhand for the effective implementation of the Namami Gange project.
But the CAG in the new report which was tabled in the state assembly this week found anomalies like faulty designs of sewage treatment plants (STPs), poor maintenance of STPs and other sewage infra, untapped drains, waste dumps near rivers and small streams, lack of river basin management plan in the project which is fully funded by the centre.
Against the DPR of Forestry Interventions for Ganga (FIG) with a budgetary provision of Rs 885.91 crore and 54,855.43-hectare plantation, only Rs 144.27 crore (16 per cent) was spent, resulting in poor physical progress which failed to meet the scheme’s objectives specific to Ganga rejuvenation, CAG found.
Out of 44 STPs inspected quarterly in 2023 by CAG experts, only 3 to 5 complied with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) norms, and 6 to 12 with MoEF & other norms, indicating widespread non-compliance and substandard sewage treatment that caused big damage to the Namami Gange project.
Most of the 44 STPs showed high levels of non-compliance with both MoEF and NGT norms across all three quarters of 2023—Biochemical Oxygen Demand levels reached up to 1237 mg/l, TSS up to 909 mg/l, and faecal coliform up to 24×10¹¹ MPN/100ml, far exceeding permissible limits, indicating severely substandard sewage treatment.
Crematoria were constructed at 11 locations in Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Uttarkashi districts without assessing local demand or cultural practices, resulting in their non-utilization, lack of maintenance, and continued pyre burning in riverbeds.
Despite a target set in 2011 to stop all untreated urban wastewater and industrial effluents from entering Ganga by 2020, the state government officials did not prepare the required State River Basin Management Plan even after 13 years.
District Ganga Plans were also not prepared in any of the Ganga basin districts (Uttarkashi, Tehri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pauri, Dehradun and Haridwar) resulting in fragmented handling of sewerage issues and failure to achieve the 2020 target.
One of the key goals of Namami Gange was to involve local communities in planning for sustainable infrastructure. However, an audit found that the state government officials and implementing agencies did not involve local public in planning, resulting in improper or unused sewerage infrastructure.
The state government did not spend funds from its own resources on sewage infrastructure in Ganga Front Towns, despite sanitation being its own responsibility. No STPs or sewer connections to households were built by the State, and ongoing efforts like the KfW (German Development Bank)-funded project are limited to only Haridwar and Rishikesh.
Twenty-one STPs built in seven Ganga Front Towns like Joshimath were not connected to any households. Partial household sewage connectivity to STPs was observed during audit in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Uttarkashi, and Chamoli due to lack of sewer lines and inadequate treatment capacity.
Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam, a key implementation agency, did not succeed in setting up any co-treatment plant in the State. In the absence of proper co-treatment facilities and other safe options for treatment and disposal, the large quantity of septage generated from unconnected households poses a significant risk of unsafe disposal and pollution of the river system.
STPs in Haridwar and Rishikesh are facing sewage overload. For example, the 68 MLD STP in Haridwar has at times received up to 84 MLD of sewage, while the 5.0 MLD STP at Rishikesh has occasionally received up to 17 MLD, far exceeding its designed capacity.
STPs in Devprayag (1.40 MLD STP) and Joshimath (1.08 MLD) operated far below capacity due to insufficient sewage inflow. The Devprayag received sewage from only 70 households, while in Joshimath, the drain discharge had vanished, leaving the STP nearly idle. These issues rendered the STPs ineffective, defeating their intended purpose.
Untreated sewage from two STPs in Rishikesh (3.0 MLD STP, Swargashram and 3.5 MLD STP, Tapovan) was wilfully discharged into the Ganga by the O&M contractor, violating the Water Act, 1974.
Despite constructing six STPs in Rudraprayag in 2017, five drains carrying sewage and solid waste were left untapped and continued to pollute the Ganga. The implementing agency did not include these drains in the original proposal of 2017, and no action was taken even after repeated requests and follow-ups.
Eight out of 44 Namami Gange STPs were operating without valid Consolidated Consent and Authorisation from the Pollution Control Board for over four years, violating legal provisions and posing environmental risks.
Eighteen STPs were not transferred by construction agency Uttarakhand Jal Nigam to Maintenance Agency i.e. Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan even after several years of construction.
Sludge management plant (construction cost ₹4.93 crore) in Rishikesh remained non-non-operational as the sludge & low calorific value made it unviable, and this was not assessed before adopting the technology. Despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directions and Chief Secretary’s affidavit, reuse of treated water was limited to three STPs in Jagjeetpur, and no progress was made at Sarai and Lakkarghat STPs.