Ganga drive stuck in political quagmire

Sahebganj, May 30: A Rs 800-crore master project to de-pollute the holy Ganga here is hanging in the balance, courtesy the political instability in the state.

Under the project, the Sahebganj district administration had earlier proposed a sewerage system, underground huge drains and electric crematoriums both at Sahebganj and Rajmahal townships located on the banks of Ganga.

K. Ravi Kumar, the deputy commissioner of Sahebganj, in a letter dated January 5, had requested the secretary of town planning development department, Ranchi for a detailed project report (DPR) for implementing the project. Sources said the file of the project is still gathering dust in the department.

The initiative at Sahebganj was taken as part of a World Bank-sponsored national Ganga river basin project, a countrywide movement launched to make the river pollution-free.

“The central government is supposed to provide 85 per cent of the total money while the state government has to pay the remaining 15 per cent,” Kumar said. According to him, Rs 500 crore would be needed at Sahebganj and Rs 300 crore at Rajmahal. “After obtaining permission for preparing the DPR, the central government will sanction the amount for the district,” Kumar said.

He added that a DPR for a proposed solid waste disposal plant had been completed at Sahebganj town, but due to the delay in the formalities of land acquisition, the project had yet not been started.

Kumar, in his report for seeking a DPR of the crematoriums, pointed out that land for the project was available, but it required levelling.