Nirmal Ganga Abhiyaan: Establishments to be gauged on efficiency rating scale

By NewsGram Staff Writer

With an aim to check compliance with Narendra Modi's mission to clean river Ganga, Indian is thinking of setting up efficiency ratings at all establishments near the holy river.

According to officials, a 'Nirmal Ganga Rating' is in the works to assess industrial units, municipalities, gram panchayats and even ashrams on a scale of one to three, much like the Bureau of Energy Efficiency's star rating for electrical appliances.

The first of its kind river friendly rating scale will be entirely voluntary for private entities that may be discharging waste into the Ganga.

However, plans are in the making to link release of funds for municipalities and gram panchayats according to the rating notched up by them on the proposed scale.

Here is what the proposal states:

• A single star will be awarded to establishments that desist from directly contributing to the pollution in the Ganga
• Two stars will be accorded to establishments that recycle their waste water
• Three stars will go to those establishments that go a step further, take up advocacy for cleaning the Ganga and expand their influence and assistance in and around their vicinity.

"The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is working on this three-tier rating system for all industries including the tanneries along the Ganga, tourism and hospitality related infrastructure like hotels, facilities manufacturing consumer products and all commercial establishments that may be discharging any kind of waste into the river," a senior official told ET.

An agency has already been asked to develop guidelines for the rating, on which public views will also be invited and taken into consideration by the NMCG.

The green ratings will be extended to all ashrams, religious institutions, large residential complexes and educational institutions.

"The government wants to protect the river as well as take all stakeholders along. It wants to make it desirable for all establishments to be Ganga friendly but without any coercion", source said.

A senior official also said that the government is thinking of linking financial incentives to industry and bodies that acquire new technology to treat waste before discharge into the river.