Contracts of 16 awarded; 13 completed.

The last two projects are under tendering out of the 31 sewage management developments sanctioned at Rs.1,024.5 crore in Uttarakhand.

These 31 projects are to create 155.45 MLD STP capacity and to lay/rehabilitate 151.02 kilometers of sewer network, said a government press note.

Sixteen projects have already been awarded while 13 completed have created 24 MLD STP capacity at a cost of Rs.139.5 crore.

The projects which have been awarded are STP, Interception and Diversion (I&D), up gradation of STPs at Jagjeetpur and Sarai of Haridwar, up gradation of STP in Tapovan in Rishikesh, pollution abatement works for river Alakananda in Kirtinagar, up gradation of existing STP in Srinagar, I&D and STP works in Srinagar, I&D and STP works in Joshimath, I&D and STP works in Rudraprayag, I&D and STP works in Karnprayag, up gradation of STP in Gyansu, up gradation of existing STP in Swargashram in Rishikesh, STP work in Muni-Ki-Reti in Rishikesh.

The projects for construction of 22 ghats and 22 crematoria, amounting to Rs.161.16 crore, have also been sanctioned and are currently at different stages of progress.

These include ghats and crematoria works at Phool Chatti, Ramkund, Bharat, Sangam, Kirtinagar-Old Ganga, Srinagar Nathani, Ufanda village, Srinagar ITI, Balawali, Shampur, Bhogpur, Chandi, Manokamna, Jad-Bharat, Kedar, Heena, Koteshwar, Nageshwar Dham, Dunda, Koteshwar Mahadev, Gholtir, Gaucher and Nandprayag ghats in Pauri Garhwal (Rishikesh to Dev Prayag stretch), Tehri Garhwal, Rudra Prayag (Dev Prayag to Rudraprayag stretch), Haridwar, Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts of Uttarakhand.

Haridwar and Rishikesh being two important cities in the state, the Government has taken many initiatives to upgrade their sewage treatment facilities and address other concerns relating to cleaning of River Ganga.

Haridwar generates an estimated 114 MLD of sewage, but its existing three sewage treatment plants at Jagjeetpur and Sarai are able to treat only 63 MLD of sewage, while the remaining discharges directly into river Ganga.

To bridge this gap, another 64 MLD STP at Jagjeetpur (replacing 18 MLD existing plant) and 14 MLD STP at Sarai have been awarded under Hybrid Annuity based PPP model to exclusively address the sewage treatment requirements of the town. Concession agreements for these projects were signed and work has already commenced.

The total sewage treatment capacity in the town thus will be 145 MLD, adequate to meet the sewage treatment demands of the town for coming years too.

The total sanctioned cost of all the sewage management projects in Haridwar is Rs.413.87 crore.

To address the concerns of floating waste on the river, a trash skimmer is operational in Haridwar since May 2017 under river surface cleaning component. Further, ghat and crematoria development work is in progress at Chandi Ghat in Haridwar. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs.50.36 crore. Nearly 41 per cent work has already been completed.

In Rishikesh town, an estimated 15 MLD of sewage is generated, which is likely to increase in the future. From the current capacity of three existing sewage treatment plants – Swargashram, Lakkarghat and IDPL, approximately 23 MLD of sewage treatment capacity is available. However, part of the sewage generated from Rishikesh does not reach the STPs and flows directly into the river.

A new sewage treatment plant of 26 MLD capacity at Lakkarghat has been sanctioned under Namami Gange program, for which tendering is in progress. This project will be completed by the year 2019.

Another project is already in progress to upgrade the STP at Swargashram and this work will be completed by June 2018.

Together, these STPs will create sewage treatment capacity of 29 MLD.

Besides, work on a 12.5 MLD capacity STP project at Muni-ki-Reti in Rishikesh has already started at the cost of Rs. 67 crore.

To address the issue of sewer connectivity, the works on laying of 12 km sewer lines and rehabilitation of existing pumping stations are also part of the above project to improve the entire sewage management infrastructure in Rishikesh.

Importantly, one of the major problems in both these towns is poor number of connections from household and commercial establishments to the sewerage system as a result of which sewage does not reach STP for treatment.

It is required that maximum households and commercial establishments connect to the sewerage system for success of these projects.

Therefore, equal importance is being given to laying of sewer lines under Namami Gange programme. fii-news.com