Out of these, there are 13 stretches along rivers in Uttar Pradesh, 21 polluted stretches are in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat has around 20 polluted stretches, while Maharashtra tops the list with 49 polluted stretches.

River Ganga, for which the government rolled out NamamiGangeprogramme, Rs 20,000 crores and created a separate ministry [Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation], was found to be polluted in four states out the five states the river irrigates. The river’s stretches are polluted in Uttarakhand (where it originates), Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. It isn’t polluted in Jharkhand, as mentioned in the report.

In his reply, Dave said that the ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the state governments to reduce the pollution in identified stretches of various rivers under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and NGRBA (National Ganga River Basin Authority) programmes. These programmes, before the formation of ministry of water resource have covered polluted stretches of 43 rivers in 200 towns spread over 21 States at a sanctioned cost of Rs 12202.59 crore so far. Sewage treatment capacity of 5169 million litres per day (MLD) has been created under these programmes. He claims that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has issued directions the State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committees regarding setting up of sewage treatment plants and utilisation of sewage generated in their respective States. In 2015, it also issued directions to 69 municipal authorities of metropolitan cities for proper treatment and disposal of sewage generated to control pollution in rivers and other water bodies. Steps have also been taken by CPCB to promote low waste and no waste concept, leading to zero liquid discharge by grossly water polluting industries, particularly those located on the river banks, read his reply in the Rajya Sabha. - See more at: