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214 Economic Survey 2021-22

India declared River Ganga as the National River in 2008. Further, the Government of India
launched the Namami Gange Mission in 2014 as an integrated and multi-sectoral mission for
conservation of Ganga and its tributaries.

Namami Gange Mission
6.32 The Namami Gange Mission aims to protect, conserve and rejuvenate the Ganga River
Basin. In 2015, the Cabinet approved the Mission for a period of five years (2015-2020) with
a budget outlay of ` 20,000 crores. Subsequently, on 7 October 2016, under the Environment
th
(Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was
notified as an authority under Environment Protection Act, which is also the nodal agency
responsible for monitoring and implementing the Namami Gange Mission. The activities
undertaken as part of the Mission rest upon four pillars –Nirmal Ganga (Unpolluted Flow),
Aviral Flow (Continuous Flow), Jan Ganga (People-River Connect) and Gyan Ganga (Research
and Knowledge Management). As of December 2021, a total of 363 projects worth ` 30,841.53
crores have been sanctioned under the mission.

6.33 Figure 22 shows the total expenditure incurred under the Namami Gange Mission since
2014-15 to December 2021. Lower expenditure incurred in 2020-21 and 2021-22 needs to be
viewed in the context of the COVID pandemic and recent changes in accounting norms.

Figure 22: Expenditure incurred under the Namami Gange Mission
during 2014-22 (` Crores) as of December 2021

3000
2,627 2,673
Expenditure incurred (Rs. Crores) 2000 603 1,063 1,625 1,340 898
2500

1500

1000

500

0 171
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21* 2021-22**
*Due to COVID 19 Pandemic
** The data in the graph is till December 2021
Source: National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
6.34 In addition, the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) was established in 2014 with the objective
of contributing to the national effort of improving the cleanliness of river Ganga with the
contributions received from the residents of the country, NRIs/ PIO, corporates and organizations.
As of 31st December 2021, a total of ` 561.58 crore has been received under the CGF.

6.35 Under the Nirmal Ganga (Unpolluted Flow) component of the mission, 160 sewerage
projects have been sanctioned at a cost of ` 24,568 crores as of December 31, 2021 to create
a cumulative treatment capacity of 5,024 MLD, reflecting a ten-fold increase from 463 MLD
through 28 projects in 2014. Figure 23 shows the state-wise distribution of the sewerage