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What makes Maharashtra and Gujarat rivers most polluted in the country

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Several crores have been spent on cleaning of rivers like Mithi
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The environment ministry has identified 150 polluted stretches of rivers across India which need conservation work but interestingly nearly 1/3rd of those polluted river stretches are in Maharashtra and Gujarat alone.

These 150 polluted stretches along various rivers were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India's apex body to control pollution, based on Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand levels (a key indicator of organic pollution). It was apparently done so that a focussed conservation process can be carried out to improve the condition of those rivers.

Of those 150 stretches, 28 are in Maharashtra, 19 in Gujarat, 12 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Karnataka and 9 in Tamil Nadu besides others.

"Conservation of rivers is a joint effort of central and state governments. Environment ministry under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) only sanctions pollution abatement works in towns along these identified polluted stretches," said a senior environment ministry official.

The NRCP and the NGRBA are at present covering 42 rivers in 199 towns across 21 states where projects worth Rs10,716 crore have been sanctioned. "Till March 2014, Rs5,097.50 crore has been released to various state governments for implementation of schemes to tackle pollution. Sewage treatment capacity of around 5000 million litres per day has also been created under the two programmes," the senior official added.

Of these Rs5097.5 crore, Rs1,419 crore have gone to Uttar Pradesh, Rs705 crore to West Bengal, Rs623 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs151 crore to Maharashtra and Rs131 crore to Gujarat.

"These are not the only programmes through which we help states in river cleaning and conservation efforts. Apart from giving money through NGRBA and NRCP, state governments are also using programmes like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium towns to develop sewage treatment plants and other efforts," the senior environment ministry official added.

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