GANGA ACTION PLAN

About river GANGA	·         The Ganges  is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through India and Bangladesh.  ·          The 2,525 km (1,569 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal.  ·         The basin covers parts of four countries, India, Nepal, China, and Bangladesh; eleven Indian states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Delhi.  ·          It is the third largest river by discharge.  ·          The Ganges was ranked as the fifth most polluted river of the world in 2007.  ·         Pollution threatens not only humans, but also more than 140 fish species, 90 amphibian species and the endangered Ganges river dolphin.   ·         About 400 million people depend on ganga for livelihood.
Pollution in GANGA	·         industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics add large amounts of pollutants to the river as it flows through densely populated areas.  ·          The World Bank estimates that the health costs of water pollution in India equal three percent of India's GDP.  ·          Varanasi, a city of one million pilgrims visit to take a "holy dip" in the Ganges.  ·         releases around 200 million litres of untreated human sewage into the river each day, leading to large concentrations of faecal coliform bacteria.
About GANGA action plan	·         This was an initiative by government ofIndia to clean up river Ganga. Launched in 1985.  ·         Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase-I was launched in the year 1985 to improve the water quality of river Ganga and was completed in March 2000. This included only the main stretch of river.  ·         Phase-II of the programme was approved in stages from 1993 onwards which included tributaries of the river Ganga namely, Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahananda.  ·          Pollution abatement works undertaken include, interception and diversion of raw sewage, setting up of sewage treatment plants, creation of low cost sanitation facilities, setting up of electric/improved wood crematoria and river front development. GAP Phase–II is currently under implementation.  ·         The Central Government, by a notification dated 20.2.2009, as set up ‘National GangaRiver Basin Authority’ (NGRBA)as an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganga River, in exercise of the powers conferred under the Environment (Protection) Act,1986.   ·          A project under the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) with World Bank assistance for abatement of pollution of river Ganga at an estimated cost of Rs.7000 crore has been approved in April 2011 by the Central Government.