West Bengal to Establish Two Dolphin Parks, Clean Hooghly River Under Namami Gange

West Bengal government is planning to set up two dolphin parks, including one in Purba Medinipur’s Contai, and will take up intensive cleaning programme of river Hooghly, under central government’s “Namami Ganga” which will include building five Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the city under the Namami Gange scheme.

Later Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari held a meeting with union minister C.R. Paatil in the evening on “Jal Jeevan Mission” and other issues.

Bengal Minister of Urban Development & Municipal Affairs Agnimitra Paul, “We plan to set up two Dolphin Parks in Bengal, including one in Contai. We will submit a proposal today for the preservation of those dolphins and for creating a Dolphin Park for tourism Today we are submitting proposals to the Union minister. Apart from building STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants), and we will decorate a lot of ghats (river banks). We will develop the ghats and Ganga Aarti will be held just like it is in Kashi Varanasi and Haridwar.”

The state is mulling to install water meters for commercial and industrial establishments, she added.

"To clean the Ganga, we will have to stop the drains flowing into it. We need to build STPs, and for STPs, land is required. We have the funds. Around five STPs will be built." C R Paatil, Union Minister of Jal Shakti said.

Paul said, “The state will implement the Namami Ganga programme of the Centre. Water scarcity also poses a risk to industry.”

Paatil said that everyone should conserve water in the interest of future generations by creating conservation structures. “The Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made substantial capital outlay for building water conservation projects,” he said.

“Water conservation structures are very important for the country. Rainwater harvesting is required to recharge the groundwater. And it is also needed for the future generations" he noted.

Paatil said in the last 12 years under Prime Minister Modi, several water deficient states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat have made progress to address this problem. The minister alleged that West Bengal has is lagging behind on water conservation and ground water recharge.

Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised a Special Session on Jal Shakti with C R Paatil, Union Minister of Jal Shakti and Ashok Kumer K. Meena, Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation-Secretary was also present.

The Topic of the Session was “Water conservation in India: Challenges & Solutions” .

According to him, river linking projects amounting to Rs one lakh crore have been envisaged to address the problems of water deficient states.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aimed at providing drinking water supply to rural households, he said that so far 16 crore homes are being provided with taps. The outlay under this scheme is Rs 1.5 lakh crore, adding that Rs 67,000 crore will have to be spent this year itself.

Ashok Kumer K. Meena, Secretary of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, said the state government is propagating the idea of water conservation across the country. “Water conservation is important as the next crisis the world will face will be due to water,” he said.

He shared that the ministry has recently signed an MoU with the West Bengal government for implementing JJM in the state.

President of MCCI Priti A. Sureka said that the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is a key scheme of the Jal Shakti Ministry of the Centre which aims at expanding drinking water supply to the rural areas. The scheme is funded on a 50:50 basis by the Centre and the states. The onus of implementation of the scheme lies on the states. Currently under JJM version 2.0, the scheme envisages providing functional household tap connections to every rural home.