Modi’s Namami Gange Has Made Real Progress, But The Job Is Nowhere Near Done

“The Ganga is a symbol of our prosperity, our culture, our heritage, our civilisation, our philosophies. Many of our religions link to the Ganga and perhaps most of all, it is the holder of our spirituality and our traditions.”

Most would assume these words were spoken by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader—perhaps even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, given his repeated emphasis on the Ganga as a sacred and civilisational lifeline.

Few, if any, would attribute them to late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Yet, it was the him who, standing at Varanasi’s Dashashwamedha Ghat in June 1985, made this declaration while launching the Ganga Action Plan (GAP).

The initiative, envisioned to cleanse India’s holiest river by 1990, began with much fanfare. But like many ambitious government programmes, it fell short of its promise. But by the time the second United Progressive Alliance government left office in 2014, the Ganga was no cleaner than before. If anything, the pollution had worsened, with the river clogged by industrial waste, sewage, and the burden of neglect. 

So when Narendra Modi, then Gujarat’s Chief Minister and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, vowed in 2014 to make the Ganga nirmal (clean) and aviral (free-flowing), skepticism was inevitable. But his government moved swiftly, launching Namami Gange in 2015 with an unprecedented Rs 20,000 crore allocation—signalling a level of seriousness that earlier efforts had lacked.

Nearly a decade later, as millions gathered for the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj and took a holy dip in the river, Namami Gange was back in the spotlight.

Has the programme delivered on its promise, or did it meet the same fate as earlier initiatives?

If you were to ask the National Green Tribunal for the answer, its verdict would be a predictable and sweeping ‘no,’ delivered with the certainty of those who seldom concern themselves with execution. But the truth lies somewhere between progress and shortfall, ambition and execution, intent and impact.

If the answer was as simple as yes or no, the debate wouldn’t persist, nor would the question itself continue to resurface every few years. Grand promises would either stand fulfilled or be forgotten, and the Ganga would be undeniably clean—or irreversibly lost. 

What is indisputable, however, is that Namami Gange has delivered tangible results.

Gains Under Namami Gange

The development of infrastructure for sewage interception and treatment is a fundamental component of any river restoration initiative and has been a priority under both GAP and Namami Gange.

In contrast, Namami Gange has set a far more ambitious target and managed to push through on a large part of it.

As of January 2025, a total of 5,385 MLD of new Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity is planned to be created, with an additional 949 MLD through the rehabilitation of old STPs. So far, 2,569 MLD of STP capacity has been successfully created, most of it along the main stretch of the river, along with 875 MLD through rehabilitation.

In terms of sewer infrastructure, 5,158 km of sewer network was planned to be laid under the programme, out of which 4,542 km has been completed.

Take Kanpur, for example.

In 2013, the city had 5.54 lakh properties (as per Census 2011), but only 1.76 lakh were connected to the sewer network, covering just 32 per cent of households.

The city's sewer infrastructure was also limited, with a main and trunk sewer network of 74 km and an additional 875 km of branch sewers. At the time, Kanpur generated about 340 MLD of sewage, yet only 170 MLD was being treated (CPCB, 2013).

By 2025, the situation has changed significantly. The number of households has risen to 5.98 lakh, and sewer network coverage has nearly doubled to 50 per cent, with nearly 3 lakh households now connected.

The city's sewer infrastructure has expanded massively, with the total network length increasing to 3,575 km, 400 km of which was rehabilitated or laid under Namami Gange.

Meanwhile, sewage generation has grown to 427.70 MLD, while total discharge stands at 338 MLD. Treatment capacity has also seen a substantial boost, with the total installed STP capacity now at 506 MLD, including a 20 MLD Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), though the actual utilisation capacity is 374 MLD.

Despite inconsistencies in government data—with different sources report varying figures—and the persistent issue of sewage generation being underestimated, the broader trend is clear: the situation has improved significantly over the past decade, particularly since the launch of the Namami Gange mission.

This progress isn’t limited to Kanpur. Across all Ganga-front towns in Uttar Pradesh, more than 1,800 km of sewage networks have been rehabilitated or newly laid, and nearly 870 MLD of treatment capacity has been created as of January 2025.

With improvement in sewerage conveyance infrastructure, more sewage can now reach the STPs.

To understand how a failing sewage conveyance system can cripple the efficiency of STPs, consider this: in 2010, the 130 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) in Jajmau was operating at just 16 per cent of its capacity, treating only 21 MLD instead of the full 130 MLD.

The main issue was a severe leakage in the 90-inch trunk sewer, which was meant to carry 162 MLD of sewage—39 MLD from pumping stations (Guptar Ghat, Baba Ghat, Nawab Ganj, Parmat) and 123 MLD by gravity.

In simple terms, instead of the intended 162 MLD, the plant was receiving just 50 MLD, and of that, it was only able to treat 21 MLD, drastically reducing its efficiency.

Now, however, the expansion of treatment infrastructure has enabled the interception of drains that were previously discharging directly into the river.

For example, Kanpur’s Sisamau Nala—once infamous as the ‘largest drain in Asia’ and used as an open sewer since the 1890s—drained 140 MLD sewage into the Ganga. It was finally tapped in 2018, with its flow diverted to the Jajmau and Bingawan STPs for treatment.

In January 2025, a CPCB report stated that out of 32 drains identified in Kanpur as discharging wastewater into the Ganga and its tributary Pandu, 18 had been successfully tapped. Similarly, in Varanasi, 37 out of the 47 identified drains had been tapped.

Beyond Hard Infrastructure

Beyond investments in hard infrastructure, Namami Gange has ushered in critical policy shifts, marking a serious departure from the shortcomings of GAP.

The programme follows a holistic river basin approach, recognising that cleaning the Ganga is impossible without restoring its vast network of tributaries. With ten major tributaries and countless smaller ones, the river drains 26 per cent of India’s landmass.

Yet, untreated wastewater from these tributaries—including the severely polluted Yamuna—eventually finds its way into the Ganga. Any cleanup strategy that fails to tackle this upstream pollution is set to fall short.

A substantial share of funding under Namami Gange has been allocated to the Yamuna basin. By the end of 2021, at least 23 projects worth Rs 4,290 crore had been undertaken to create or rehabilitate 1,840 MLD of sewage treatment capacity in the region drained by the river. Of these, 12 projects are concentrated in Delhi alone, where Yamuna’s pollution became a major political flashpoint in the recent election.

The programme also takes a scientific approach to river restoration.

Excessive water extraction and flow restrictions reduce the water left in the river channel, disrupting its natural self-purification process. The stretch between Haridwar and Prayagraj experiences particularly low flow levels, particularly from December to May.

A key factor behind the failure of the GAP was its inability to address this issue of the river’s diminished flow. Maintaining a minimum flow, or environmental flows (e-flow), is crucial for preserving the Ganga’s self-purification mechanisms, which help maintain water quality and support its diverse ecosystems.

Continuous water movement dilutes contaminants, allowing for their diffusion and gradual breakdown by microorganisms, which rely on the flow to oxygenate the water and metabolise organic matter.

E-flow also facilitates sediment transport, preventing sediment build-up that can lead to habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity. It maintains the river's capacity for nutrient cycling and ensures the transport of dissolved oxygen, which is essential for aerobic microorganisms and aquatic life.

In 2010, another WWF report had noted "lack of political will" as the first challenge to the implementation of e-flow requirements. But this changed under Namami Gange. The programme places a strong emphasis on ensuring that the Ganga’s flow remains uninterrupted—a concept referred to as aviralta, a term Prime Minister Narendra Modi often uses when describing the Namami Gange programme.

In October 2018, the government issued a notification mandating that a minimum quantity of water must be maintained throughout the year in various stretches of the Ganga. This regulation requires hydropower projects along the river to modify their operations to comply with these e-flow requirements.

Interestingly, this adjustment will not affect power generation or tariffs. These projects generate minimal energy during the lean season when e-flow is most critical, meaning the changes will have little impact on their performance.

In a report put out in 2021, the Central Water Commission (CWC) confirmed that most projects have "installed real-time data acquisition systems" and are "providing the flow data on an hourly basis regularly," adding that "most projects meet the e-flow norms."

The Job Is Nowhere Near Done

With efforts toward both nirmalta and aviralta underway, the Ganga is seeing change—but not everywhere. Pollution levels are declining in large parts of the river, but challenges remain in certain key stretches—a reminder that true success is still distant.

The CPCB, in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), monitors the river at 41 locations across the state. Every fortnight, assessments are conducted to check whether the river meets the primary water quality criteria for outdoor bathing—standards that define its ability to support life and sustain the millions who depend on it for everything from daily use to religious rituals.

Data collected between January and October 2024 shows that much of the river in Uttar Pradesh meets the required levels for pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Faecal Coliform (FC), and Faecal Streptococci (FS).

However, certain stretches remain troubled—pockets where pollution exceeds safe limits, continuing to weigh down the river’s flow.

The river is assessed against the following standards:

One of the key indicators of pollution in the Ganga is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), which measures the amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to break down organic matter in the water.

If BOD is low, it means the water is relatively clean because there isn’t much waste for bacteria to break down. If BOD is high, it means there’s a lot of organic pollution, and bacteria consume more oxygen to decompose it. The problem is that this reduces the oxygen available for fish and other aquatic life, making it harder for them to survive. In extreme cases, high BOD can turn parts of a river into lifeless, stagnant water where fish die, and the ecosystem collapses.

In the Ganga, certain stretches have higher-than-acceptable BOD levels, indicating too much organic waste. The worst-affected areas are:

• Farrukhabad to Purana Rajapur, Kanpur

Beyond organic pollution, microbial contamination remains a significant concern in the Ganga. Faecal Coliform (FC) and Faecal Streptococci (FS)—both indicators of sewage and human waste—have exceeded permissible limits in several stretches, highlighting contamination levels that demand attention. The affected regions include:

1. Faecal Coliform (FC):

• Upstream (U/s) Kannauj to Purana Rajapur, Kanpur

• Downstream (D/s) Mirzapur to Tarighat, Ghazipur (except U/s Varanasi)

A quick look at the worst-affected stretches shows that the river remains polluted in parts of two of the most economically and historically important cities along the Ganga—Kanpur and Varanasi. In Kanpur, for instance:

• BOD exceeds the permissible limit (≤3 mg/L) at all locations.

No effort to clean the Ganga will be fully successful until these stretches, where history, industry, and faith converge, are freed from the burden of pollution.

One of the biggest challenges is the poor performance of STPs.

However, the effectiveness of these STPs remains questionable, as many are either non-operational or fail to comply with environmental standards.

Out of 41 STPs, only 35 facilities with a treatment capacity of 1,301 MLD were operational, while six with a capacity of nearly 37 MLD were non-operational.

In Kanpur, the 15 MLD Baniyapur STP has been lying idle for over three years despite being fully constructed. Meanwhile, Farrukhabad’s situation is even worse—both of its STPs are completely non-functional, allowing untreated sewage to pour directly into the Ganga. It is hardly surprising, then, that one of the two most polluted stretches of the river in UP, in terms of BOD, begins in Farrukhabad.

In Varanasi, for example, there are seven STPs with a design capacity of 421.8 MLD. While all are operational, their total utilized capacity is only 336.9 MLD.

Moreover, at least 13 STPs are operating beyond their designed capacity, risking inefficiency in treatment and even mechanical failures.

Over 97 per cent (34 out of 35) of the STPs fail to meet NGT norms, and nearly 66 per cent (23 out of 35) fail to meet even the relatively less stringent MoEF&CC guidelines.

In a paper published in December 2024, AK Vidyarthi, a scientist at CPCB involved in the monitoring STPs and Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) along the Ganga’s main stem and its tributaries, revealed troubling findings. According to the study, all eight CETPs monitored by the CPCB were found to be non-compliant with discharge norms. 

Kanpur's Jajmau CEPT, for example, "was found operating at a utilised capacity of ⁓90 per cent of the designed capacity (36 MLD)," but the "BOD and COD removal efficiencies of the CETP were 33.2 per cent and 42.9 per cent, respectively."

"The CETP Jajmau exhibited non- compliance with treated effluent quality standards for BOD, COD, Fixed Dissolved Solids (FDS), Chloride, Oil & Grease, Sulphide and Chromium," the paper authored by Vidyarthi and other CPCB scientists says.

Over a decade ago, a 2013 CPCB evaluation of STPs along the Ganga exposed the scale of dysfunction. Of the 51 monitored plants with a total capacity of 1,009 MLD, only 602 MLD—just 59 per cent—was being utilised. Nine plants exceeded BOD limits, one surpassed COD limits, and 14 were not operational.

In Uttar Pradesh, the eight monitored STPs had a combined capacity of 358 MLD, but only 287 MLD was in use. Four plants exceeded BOD limits, and one was completely non-functional.

Namami Gange identified the long-standing issue of underperforming STPs and introduced a new funding and management mechanism under the Hybrid Annuity-based Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Under this approach, the private company that wins the bid is responsible for setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to develop, operate, and maintain STPs at the local level.

The payment system is structured to ensure continued accountability. Instead of paying the entire cost upfront, the government covers 40 per cent once construction is complete. The remaining 60 per cent is paid over time as annuities, along with operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.

That it hasn’t worked is not just a failure—it’s a damning indictment of the entire system. Decades of dysfunction, billions poured in, and yet the STPs remain as broken as ever.

If the performance of STPs isn't fixed, the promise of a nirmal and aviral Ganga will remain an elusive goal, trapped in the gap between ambition and execution.