New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is working war-front to deliver their promises. Result of this – the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has completed its crucial sewage treatment plant (STP) in Hardiwar three months before the schedule.

To execute the pet project of PM Modi to clean river Ganga - Namami Gange, authorities have tapped sewage of three most polluted nallas and have started treating at 14 millions of litres per day (MLD) capacity STP at Sarai area.

According to the NMCG officials, the interception and diversion for Sarai zone have been completed by the tapping of three drains- Kassawan, Pandewala and Ramrakha Nala.

Originally, Kasavan Nala was one of the biggest drains in Haridwar, falling into the Ganga river. With the completion of this project, one major pollution hotspot has been addressed.

“The testing of the sewage treatment plan will be done for at least three months before making it commercially operational in August,” said an official.

Haridwar generates an estimated 114 MLD of sewage, but its existing three sewage treatment plants at Jagjeetpur and Sarai were able to treat only 63 MLD of sewage, while the remaining discharges were directly flowing into river Ganga. To stop the flow of black water in Ganga, NMCG started construction of 64 MLD STP at Jagjeetpur (replacing 18 MLD existing plant) and 14 MLD STP at Sarai in 2018. 

Officials claim that Jagjeetpur plant will also be completed before the year end which was scheduled in February 2020.

The STP construction works were completed on April 2019, and this is seven months before its scheduled completion in November 2019. NMCG top officials have been continually monitoring and coordinating the progress work with all the stakeholders.

According to officials, the newly built sewage treatment facility at Sarai, Haridwar is the first of a hybrid annuity model (HAM) in the country. In the project, only 40% of the cost is incurred by the government, and the contractor does the rest 60 %.

The contractor has an agreement to run the facility for the next 15 years. It is during this period depending upon their efficiency the government will repay 60% amount with interest as an annuity. This is also one of the biggest reasons for the early completion of the project as the government has fixed the responsibility. The trial was initially scheduled for November 2019 but was started before the time as authorities are trying to finish the work early.

Similarly, other STP projects on the hybrid annuity model (HAM) in Varanasi, Mathura and several other cities are being monitored continuously and will be delivered on time, the official said.