In his Budget Speech on February 27, 2010, the Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, announced the doubling of the allocation for the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), the apex body for the Ganga River Basin, to Rs.500 crore for the financial year 2010-11.

In addition, in the first phase, the projects worth Rs 1,394.11 crores have been cleared by the Empowered Steering Committee (ESC) of the NGRBA. These include projects worth in Uttar Pradesh (Rs 800 crore), Bihar (Rs 440 crore), West Bengal (Rs 105 crore) and Uttarakhand (Rs 45 crore). These include projects for development of sewer networks, sewage treatment plants and sewage pumping stations, electric crematoria, community toilets, development of river fronts, resuscitation of canals, and public campaigns.

The Minister of State for Environment & Forests (I/C), Mr Jairam Ramesh, noted: “These measures signify the importance and urgency that we are placing on the River Ganga, which has such an important place in our culture, and which is so central to the livelihoods of millions of our people. In addition to these measures, we are negotiating a major loan of about US$ 1Bn with the World Bank for Ganga cleaning, which is progressing on track.”

These measures constitute an unprecedented impetus to the renewed efforts at Ganga Cleaning as part of 'Mission Clean Ganga'. It may be recalled that in the first meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) held on 5th October, 2009 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, it was decided, inter alia, that under 'Mission Clean Ganga', no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents will flow into the river Ganga by year 2020.

An Empowered Steering Committee (ESC) of the NGRBA was constituted in December, 2009 under the chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests for appraisal and sanction of project proposals on a Fast Track Mode. The Committee comprises of members representing other Union Ministries, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Central Water Commission (CWC) and the States concerned.

In its first meeting on 5.2.2010, the ESC considered and approved proposals for pollution abatement of river Ganga amounting to Rs. 747.20 crore, consisting of sewer networks and sewage treatment plants at Begusarai, Buxar, Hajipur and Munger in Bihar, and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The projects at Munger and Allahabad, which are of more than Rs. 150 crore each, will be taken up for final approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Earlier, a Rs. 496.90 crore project for Varanasi was approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) which is now being taken up for approval by the CCEA.

Besides the above, a number of pollution abatement projects have been sanctioned under the NGRBA in Uttarakhand and West Bengal.