NGRBA expert questions IIT consortium report

VARANASI: An expert member of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) and environmental scientist at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Prof B D Tripathi has questioned the interim report of the consortium of seven IITs on ‘Ganga River Basin Management Plan’ and has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of his concern.
His concern gains significance in the light of Modi government’s ambitious ‘Namami Gange’ project, an integrated Ganga conservation mission with an allocation of Rs 2,037 crore in the current budget.
“Since I did not get an opportunity to discuss issues related to the Ganga with the PM due to his busy schedule, I have communicated specific concerns to him as he is the chairman of NGRBA,” said Tripathi, who attended the PM’s dinner meeting during his recent visit to the city.
“One of my concerns is that the IIT consortium report prepared at a cost of Rs16 crores, does not give emphasis to holistic ecological approach based on self-regulatory mechanism and regeneration abilities to maintain the homeostasis in the Ganga ecosystem. The entire report is based on secondary data, hence it is superficial,” he told TOI. The Ganga forms three distinct major ecosystems -- Fragile Himalayan ecosystem (Gomukh to Haridwar), Plain agro-urban ecosystem (Haridwar to Patna) and Delta ecosystem (West Bengal-Sunderban). Each ecosystem has its own exclusive characteristics and specific environmental problems. However, the consortium report has not given any emphasis on the specific issues of these three distinct ecosystems, he added.
In his report Dr Vinod Tare of IIT-Kanpur and coordinator of GRBMP said that it covers the main issues of concerns and recommends corrective measures. “While major changes in the final plan are not foreseen, our studies have not achieved closure on all aspects, hence there could be additional actionable recommendations in the final plan,” said Tare.
Tripathi further said that even after the declaration of the river as the National River in 2008, it is still under the control of five different states -- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Each state has its own regulations for consumption and management of the river water and implementation of the Ganga related projects. Looking at past failures of Ganga related projects implemented by different state governments, it is necessary that the Central government has direct control over implementation of all Ganga projects to speed up the management. However, the IIT consortium report has bypassed this important issue, he added.
According to him, the IIT consortium has itself not made any assessment of the flow and depth of water in the Ganga required for ecological, geomorphological, socio-cultural, religious rituals and bathing activities on the specific festivals like Kumbh Mela. Recommendation of minimum e-flow for natural river ecosystem is not ecologically sound and sustainable. Because if there is no buffer space, depletion in the flow of water than the minimum e-flow shall certainly be lethal to the river biota. Recommendation of an e-flow of 0.5 metre depth of water in the Ganga on the basis of the requirement of "Mahseer" in place of the Ganga Dolphin (the National aquatic animal), which requires a minimum of 3.0-4.0 metre depth of water, indicates total lack of knowledge pertaining to the sustainability of river ecosystem.
“The IIT consortium has not suggested any methodology to increase the flow of water in the Ganga. Besides, it has not suggested any methodology to conserve the microbial population of the river responsible for managing the river ecosystem through the food chain, nutrients cycling, decomposition of pollutants and bio-geo-chemical cycles, said Tripathi adding that the recommendation of sewage treatment using ‘Design Built Finance Operate Model’ should be replaced with some other model based on ‘Public Financing and Public-Community Control’ operation.
According to Tripathi, use of explosives and uncontrolled blasting in the fragile Himalayan terrain for infrastructure development work introduces instability in the rocks and is detrimental to the fragile Himalayan ecosystem. These issues have not been addressed properly in the report. High wind speed due to low pressure zone may be the alternative source for power generation in Uttarakhand. The report does not include alternative suggestions such as wind mills and harvesting of solar energy for the production of electricity in Uttarakhand. Alternative arrangements for the big hydro power plants and dams constructed on the main head streams including Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and Mandakini in Uttarakhand region have not been suggested, he added.
Thrust of the plan
# The Central government constituted the NGRBA as a planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for strengthening the collective efforts of the Centre and state governments for effective abatement of pollution and conservation of Ganga.
# A Consortium of 7 IITs including Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee was given the responsibility of preparing the GRBMP.
# A memorandum of agreement (MoA) was signed between 7 IITs and the ministry of environment and forests for this purpose on July 6, 2010.
# The thrust of this plan is to relate the diverse environmental degradation occurring in the basin with their causal factors, and frame a roadmap for redeeming Ganga basin’s environment.
# The task involved different thematic groups of experts from 7 IITs and other premier organisations identifying different causal factors and assessing their impacts on the basin.