Govt planning to use fortified Ganga sludge as substitute for chemical fertilisers Official
New Delhi Mar 20 PTI The government is planning to fortify sludge from the Ganga river to use it as fertiliser to promote organic farming and prevent chemicals from entering rivers a senior official saidTreated water rich in phosphorus and nutrients is good for crop growth and in the last two weeks various rounds of discussions have been held on ways to handle the sludge from the Ganga river National Mission for Clean Ganga NMCG Director General Asok Kumar saidAccording to him efforts are underway to produce fortified sludge and provide it to farmers at subsidised ratesWe found that treated sludge can be very similar to fertiliser So if we can add a little bit of fortification then it sludge can be as good as a fertiliser and will help in organic farming Kumar told PTIWe are in talks with companies to produce fortified sludge that could be used as fertilisers and given to farmers at a subsidised rate he addedHe said two objectives can be achieved through this — first the farmers will use natural fertilisers and second the problem of piling of sludge will be solvedIf I can make a fair deal with the farmers then they might prefer that also We can also get farmers incentivised for taking up this deal We are in talks with companies to produce good fortified fertilisers from the sludge he saidHe said it will also prevent chemicals from entering rivers and causing pollutionChemical fertilisers contain phosphates and nitrates which are the main reason behind water pollution he saidKumar said another major issue is of cow dung entering the rivers and advised farmers to use it in farmingIf I can also convince the farmers to use gobar cow dung as it is a major problem in the Ganga basin due to the large bovine population in the area If we can go for natural farming then we can use this cow dung as manure which again prevents Ecoli from getting into the river Kumar saidKumar said now the focus of the NMCG is on Arth Ganga which aims to connect people with the river and establish an economic linkage between them for sustenanceFor the last two months we have been working extensively on Arth Ganga to make that economic connect he saidIn 2015 the government launched the NMCG or Namami Gange with an indicative cost of Rs 20000 crore as an umbrella programme with an aim to integrate previous and ongoing projects and new initiatives planned for cleaning the GangaUnder the programme a total of 347 projects were sanctioned against a cost of Rs 30255 croreThe projects comprise infrastructure and non-infrastructure development towards rejuvenating the GangaThe projects directly related to the cleaning process include development of sewerage infrastructure industrial effluent treatment plants rural sanitation and river surface cleaning PTI UZM RHL
New Delhi Mar 20 PTI The government is planning to fortify sludge from the Ganga river to use it as fertiliser to promote organic farming and prevent chemicals from entering rivers a senior official saidTreated water rich in phosphorus and nutrients is good for crop growth and in the last two weeks various rounds of discussions have been held on ways to handle the sludge from the Ganga river National Mission for Clean Ganga NMCG Director General Asok Kumar saidAccording to him efforts are underway to produce fortified sludge and provide it to farmers at subsidised ratesWe found that treated sludge can be very similar to fertiliser So if we can add a little bit of fortification then it sludge can be as good as a fertiliser and will help in organic farming Kumar told PTIWe are in talks with companies to produce fortified sludge that could be used as fertilisers and given to farmers at a subsidised rate he addedHe said two objectives can be achieved through this — first the farmers will use natural fertilisers and second the problem of piling of sludge will be solvedIf I can make a fair deal with the farmers then they might prefer that also We can also get farmers incentivised for taking up this deal We are in talks with companies to produce good fortified fertilisers from the sludge he saidHe said it will also prevent chemicals from entering rivers and causing pollutionChemical fertilisers contain phosphates and nitrates which are the main reason behind water pollution he saidKumar said another major issue is of cow dung entering the rivers and advised farmers to use it in farmingIf I can also convince the farmers to use gobar cow dung as it is a major problem in the Ganga basin due to the large bovine population in the area If we can go for natural farming then we can use this cow dung as manure which again prevents Ecoli from getting into the river Kumar saidKumar said now the focus of the NMCG is on Arth Ganga which aims to connect people with the river and establish an economic linkage between them for sustenanceFor the last two months we have been working extensively on Arth Ganga to make that economic connect he saidIn 2015 the government launched the NMCG or Namami Gange with an indicative cost of Rs 20000 crore as an umbrella programme with an aim to integrate previous and ongoing projects and new initiatives planned for cleaning the GangaUnder the programme a total of 347 projects were sanctioned against a cost of Rs 30255 croreThe projects comprise infrastructure and non-infrastructure development towards rejuvenating the GangaThe projects directly related to the cleaning process include development of sewerage infrastructure industrial effluent treatment plants rural sanitation and river surface cleaning PTI UZM RHL
