The government today said that bacterial contamination in the Ganges has exceeded the maximum permissible limit at a number of locations even as 80 per cent of pollution in the river is due to discharge of sewage. Environment and

Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan however informed the Rajya Sabha that the water quality in terms of Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand, BOD values is reported to have

improved as compared to the pre-Ganga Action Plan,GAP water quality on major monitoring locations.

The government is implementing GAP since 1985 for

undertaking pollution abatement activities in the identified

polluted stretches of the river through implementation of

works like interception and diversion of sewage and setting up

sewage treatment plants.

Seeking cooperation from urban local bodies for cleaning

the river, the minister said there is a World Bank-assisted

project for the purpose and money was not a problem. The project involving an estimated cost of 7,000 crore rupees has been approved under National Ganga River Basin Authority. 1,441 crore rupees has been released towards implementation of various pollution abatement works in towns along Ganga and sewage treatment capacity of 1,091 million litres per day has been created.