About:
- The findings come Four-and-a-half years after the Union Government launched its flagship Namami Gange programme to clean up the Ganga.
- The third-party assessment done by the Quality Council of India (QCI), which was conducted in November and December 2018, was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).
- It covered 92 of the 97 towns along the river, located in five States: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
- The towns were assessed on four parameters: overall cleanliness; the availability of a municipal solid waste plant; the installation of screens placed over nullahs; and solid waste management services.
Key findings of the study:
- Of the 92 towns surveyed, 75% still have old or legacy dump sites on the Ghats. Only 19 towns have a municipal solid waste plant.
- 72% of towns have at least one nullah or drain flowing into the river.
- 85% of the drains discharging into the Ganga did not even have screens to stop garbage from entering the river.
- 1/3rd of towns have solid waste floating on the river surface.
