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80% of Ganga to be clean by March 2019, says Gadkari

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday claimed that 80 per cent of Ganga river would be cleaned by March 2019 through the execution of numerous schemes under National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

After signing an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for reusing 2 crore litres/day treated water by Indian Oil refinery in Mathura, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari said that cleaning of Ganga is at a very advanced stage.

"I am saying this with full responsibility that the holy river will revive its pristine glory as 80 per cent of the Ganga river would be cleaned by the end of this fiscal," Gadkari said.

The agreement, which was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and IOCL on Wednesday, was inked after the success of hybrid annuity projects in Haridwar and Varanasi.

Gadkari further said, "I have been talking about waste-to-wealth approach and today's development is a forward move in this direction. We are also planning to make it mandatory for projects of NTPC in towns along Ganga to use treated Ganga water for their power plants."

Giving details of the projects on the Yamuna and other tributaries, Gadkari said, "Eighteen new towns on the Yamuna and its tributaries have been identified for pollution abatement."

"Eight of these towns such as Kalpi, Loni, Auriya, Kairana, Etawa, Bagpat, Tundla and Firozabad are on Yamuna, while four are on Hindon (Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Khora and Muradnagar) and six are on Kali river (Meerut, Hapur, Deoband, Modinagar, Budhana and Autrauli)."

Gadkari also urged Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to ask profit-earning PSUs under his ministry to provide an assistance of about Rs 100 crore for the re-development of ghats and crematoriums situated on the banks of rivers of Ganga and Yamuna.

Present on the occasion, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, "I assure that all support will be extended from Petroleum Ministry and IOCL for future projects. Similar waste-to-wealth projects would be taken up in important towns along Ganga like Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Haridwar, etc."

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