what is Ganga action plan?
Answers
Longest river of India which is Ganga is being polluted and Ganga Action Plan is to remove pollutants from it
Ganga Action Plan is a massive multi crore project implemented in 1985 which has undertaken to make the river Ganga pollution free. As you can see in the image shown below people are voluntarily contributing to clean the river Ganga. They are clearing the garbage from the river.
As it came in to notice that due to continuous dumping of waste in to Ganga, the bacteria coli form number has increased. During the tests it was found that the number of coli form has increased a lot showing the high pollution level of the river. This bacterium is otherwise found in human intestine. This has led to pollution in Ganga as people use Ganga River’s water for bathing, washing clothes and many other activities that affects the ph of water and makes it contaminated.
So, due to this the Ganga action plan was launched in the year 1985 but what was the aim of this plan?
Aim to reduce pollution levels in river Ganga. So, the main aim was to reduce the pollution level of Ganga to make it a clean river. As we know that the increasing population and industrialization have already damaged this mighty river beyond repair. So, the Ganga action plan was not as successful as it was thought.
Now, the Government of India has launched a new initiative known as National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in 2016.
Till now we have read that Ganga has become a polluted river and as we know that the increasing population is also one of the reason behind the polluting of the river. So, now we will study about the most populated city of U.P which is also contributing in the pollution of the river Ganga.
The Ganga at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.)
Kanpur is one of the most populated towns in U.P. People can be seen bathing, washing clothes and defecating in the river. They also throw garbage, flowers, idols of gods and goddesses and non biodegradable polythene bags into the river. So, when river flows from this area, it has been noticed that it is the place where the river is affected so badly because people here are continuously dumping various things into the river which lead to the pollution in the river. Here the amount of water is comparatively small and the flow of the river is very slow.
Kanpur has more than 5000 industries. These include fertilizer, detergent, leather and paint industries. These industrial units discharge toxic chemical wastes into the river. Many industries discharge harmful chemicals into rivers and streams, causing the pollution of water such as eutrophication which we have already discussed. This also affects the purity of water making it unfit for drinking purpose. So, therefore it becomes important for all of us to take a responsibility to keep Ganga clean. Examples are oil refineries, paper factories, textile and sugar mills and chemical factories.