The Government said that cleaning the Ganga is a continuous process – the centre supplements state efforts by providing financial and technical assistance under the Namami Gange Programme.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Ministry of Jal Shakti informed that under the Namami Gange Programme, a total of 513 projects have been sanctioned to date at a cost of ₹ 42,019 crore, of which 344 projects have been completed. The information was provided by Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Minister of State for Jal Shakti.
The minister said that as of October 2025, 513 projects under Namami Gange have been approved, aimed at cleaning up the main stem of the River Ganga and its tributaries. The majority of these projects focus on building sewage infrastructure – a critical step given that untreated domestic and industrial wastewater remains the main polluting source for the river.
138 STPs Now Functional Across Ganga Basin
Under the programme, 216 sewerage-infrastructure projects costing ₹ 34,809 crore have been initiated, aiming to remediate polluted stretches of the river. These projects are designed to deliver a total treatment capacity of 6,561 Million Liters per Day (MLD). Of these, 138 sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a combined capacity of 3,806 MLD have been completed and made operational.
Water quality monitoring by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) covers 112 sampling locations across the five main-stem Ganga states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Comparing polluted-stretch data between 2018 and 2025, major improvements are evident. For instance, in Uttarakhand, the earlier polluted stretch from Haridwar to Sultanpur (2018) has been fully cleared. In West Bengal too, the priority-III stretch (Triveni to Diamond Harbour) is now reduced to a priority-V stretch (Baharampore to Diamond Harbour), marking considerable improvement.
According to 2025 water-quality data (January-August), critical parameters such as pH and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) meet required norms for bathing at all monitored locations of the Ganga. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels conform to bathing criteria across Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal – though some stretches in Uttar Pradesh (including Farrukhabad–Kanpur, parts of Raebareli, Ghazipur and Kanpur) continue to show elevated BOD levels.
Biomonitoring conducted in 2024–25 at 50 locations along the Ganga and its tributaries, and 26 sites along the River Yamuna basin, reveals that biological water quality (BWQ) has been varying from ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’. The presence of diverse benthic macro-invertebrate species suggests that the rivers retain ecological potential to support aquatic life.
Dolphin Population More Than Doubled – Ecological Recovery Underway
One of the most encouraging signs of ecological recovery is the resurgence of the dolphin population in the Ganga basin. According to surveys conducted between 2021 and 2023, the number of river-dolphins has risen to approximately 6,327 individuals – more than double the estimated baseline of 2,500–3,000 dolphins recorded in 2009.
Moreover, the latest nationwide assessment confirmed the presence of dolphins in 17 tributaries of the Ganga – including rivers where dolphins had not been previously recorded, such as the Rupnarayan, Girwa, Kauriyala, Baba, Rapti, Bagmati, Mahananda, Ken, Betwa and Sind.
The Government said that cleaning the Ganga is a continuous process – the centre supplements state efforts by providing financial and technical assistance under the Namami Gange Programme. From financial years 2020-21 to 2024-25, the revised budgetary allocation for the programme was ₹ 11,100 crore.
State-wise disbursements so far (up to 30 November 2025) include ₹735 crore for Uttarakhand, ₹4,370 crore for Uttar Pradesh, ₹2,691 crore for Bihar, ₹277 crore for Jharkhand, and ₹1,197 crore for West Bengal. Among other Ganga–basin states, ₹916 crore has been disbursed to Delhi, underscoring the wide geographic reach of the programme.
