Integrated River Basin Planning – Replicable ... - India Water Portal

Integrated River Basin Planning: India and the EU share experience on policy and practice
Water and Environmental Policies in India
characterization as compared to conventional irrigation development programmes.
Ganga Action Plan (GAP)
The GAP was approved in April 1985 as a centrally sponsored scheme, with 100
percent of the funds flowing from the federal government. To lay down policies
and programmes, the Government of India constituted the Central Ganga Authority
(CGA) and renamed this as the National River Conservation Authority in September
1995. The GAP-I envisaged the interception, diversion and treatment of over 65
percent of the wastewater in three states falling in the Ganga Basin. While the
GAP-I was still in progress, the CGA decided in February 1991 to take up the GAP-
II, undertaking additional work in the tributaries of the Ganga River, i.e. Yamuna,
Damodar and Gomati. The GAP has incurred a total expenditure of INR 9.02 billion
(about Euro 143 million) over a period of 15 years.
The organizational arrangement of GAP is structured as set out in Figure 4.
Figure 4
Organizational arrangement for the Ganga Action Plan
Yamuna Action Plan (YAP)
National River Conservation Authority (NRCA)
Function: Policies, Programmes, Approvals and Donor Coordination
Steering Committee
Function: Funds Allocation
Standing Committee
Function: Progress Monitoring
National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD)
Function: Implementation Monitoring and feedback to NRCA
State Governments
Function: State level
Program Coordination
State Agencies:
Functions: Scheme level Coordination
Monitoring Committee
Function: Technical Review
Central Government
Function: Technical Guidance
The Yamuna Action Plan was implemented in two phases envisaging the protection
and preservation of Yamuna River from pollution. The Yamuna runs a length of
1,375 km, spreading across three states (almost six times longer than, for example,
Pamba River, involving an equally larger population base). The key objective of the
YAP is to stop wastewater from drains being dumped into the river and to intercept
and divert sewage. It was conceived in 1990 with a loan from the Government
of Japan and implementation commenced in 1993. It covers eight towns in Uttar
Pradesh, 12 towns in Haryana and the National Capital Region, involving schemes
such as construction of Sewage Treatment Plants (STP), bathing ghats, improving
drainage, erecting low cost sanitation facilities, etc.
Phase 1 has already been completed, and activities of Phase 2 have reached the
final stages of implementation. Various studies conducted on the impact of the
YAP indicate that the success is only partial. Wastewater from some drains is not
intercepted and continues to be dumped into the Yamuna, and some new pollution
points have come up. Installed STPs are functioning inefficiently and erratically,
as the wastewater to be treated does not reach it. Some details of the YAP are
presented below.
• Project Cost of Phase 1: INR 7 billion (about Euro 111 million); Phase 2 is
in the advanced stage of implementation
• Project Duration: 1993 to 2003
• National Coordinating Agency: National River Conservation Directorate
(NRCD), Government of India
• State Implementing Agencies: Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (UPJN)
• Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in Haryana, Delhi Jal Board
(DJB) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)
• Towns covered: Delhi, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Noida,
Vrindavan, Mathura, Agra and Etawah, Yamunanagar: Jagadhri, Karnal,
Panipat, Sonepat, Gurgaon and Faridabad
3.4 River Basin Organizations
There has been the policy recognition in India that comprehensive management
of river basins can be promoted through River Basin Organizations (RBO). These
RBOs were initially expected to take up projects and later promote river basin
development. However, none has emerged truly as a river basin development
organization. They were either subject-oriented or project-oriented organizations.
Organizations that were confined to construct and operationalize a specific
engineering project were the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), Bhakra Beas
Management Board (BBMB), Tungabhadra Board, Narmada Control Authority,
Betwa River Board and Bansagar Control Board. Organizations that have been
set up for specific subjects were the Brahmaputra River Board and Ganga Flood
Control Commission. The Boards were created to construct and operationalize
large dam projects or for a specific project, and they were guided with an
engineering perspective of river management, ignoring community involvement.
This perspective lacked comprehensive understanding of the river system for
evolving various options to manage the river. So far, no RBO has been empowered
to take up integrated development of water management. Some river boards that
have been set up are described below.
Brahmaputra Board: The Brahmaputra Board was set up in 1980 to prepare a
master plan for flood control in the Brahmaputra Valley, taking into account the
overall development and utilisation of water resources of the valley for irrigation,
hydropower, navigation and other beneficial purposes. The Board is headed by a
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