Basins · Namami Gange · Ecology
River
development
Rivers do not stop at state borders, which is why their management sits with national missions and statutory authorities. This page sets out what the programmes contain and what the measurements show.
- Namami Gange
- From June 2014; Phase I to March 2021, Phase II to March 2026
- Projects
- 524 sanctioned, 355 completed as at February 2026
- Disbursed
- ₹21,340 crore to 15 March 2026
- Implemented by
- National Mission for Clean Ganga
Basins, not boundaries
A river is a single hydrological system from its headwaters to the sea. Everything that happens upstream — abstraction, discharge, embankment, afforestation, barrages — presents itself downstream, frequently in another state and sometimes in another country. Managing a river by administrative boundary is therefore a category error, and Indian water law has recognised this from the outset.
The constitutional settlement reflects it. Water is a State subject, but the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys is a Union subject to the extent that Parliament declares it expedient in the public interest. That is the basis on which national river missions and statutory river authorities operate.
In practice, river programmes have to do four things at once: reduce the pollution load entering the river, restore enough flow and habitat for the ecosystem to function, sustain the livelihoods of people who depend on the river, and secure the participation of the communities along it. A programme that does only the first is a sewerage programme, not a river programme.
Namami Gange
The Government of India's programme for the rejuvenation of the Ganga and its tributaries, implemented through the National Mission for Clean Ganga since June 2014. The figures below were placed before the Rajya Sabha on 23 March 2026.
Projects sanctioned under the programme
Projects completed, as at February 2026
68 per cent of those sanctioned
Disbursed since inception, to 15 March 2026
Of which ₹16,025.97 crore for sewage treatment projects
Treatment capacity completed in the last five years
Across 76 sewerage infrastructure projects
Infrastructure and industry
- 208 projects completed in the last five years, of the 355 completed in total.
- 76 sewerage projects with a combined treatment capacity of 3,200 MLD completed over five years.
- 71 new projects sanctioned at an estimated cost of ₹12,641 crore, to create an additional 2,210 MLD of treatment capacity.
- For industrial pollution abatement, two common effluent treatment plants completed — Mathura (6.25 MLD) and Jajmau (20 MLD).
Ecology and afforestation
- 33,024 hectares afforested along the main stem of the Ganga through State forest departments, at a cost of about ₹414 crore.
- Seven biodiversity parks sanctioned across seven districts of Uttar Pradesh — Mirzapur, Bulandshahar, Hapur, Budaun, Ayodhya, Bijnore and Pratapgarh — together with five priority wetlands in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.
- 203 lakh Indian Major Carp fingerlings ranched in the Ganga to conserve fish biodiversity, support the prey base for river dolphins and sustain fisher livelihoods.
What the water
quality data shows
The Central Pollution Control Board conducts manual monitoring of the Ganga at 112 locations across five main-stem States: Uttarakhand (19), Uttar Pradesh (41), Bihar (33), Jharkhand (4) and West Bengal (15).
| State | 2018 stretch | Priority 2018 | 2025 stretch | Priority 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uttarakhand | Haridwar to Sultanpur | IV | No polluted river stretch | — |
| Uttar Pradesh | Kannauj to Varanasi | IV | Bijnor to Tarighat | IV / V |
| Bihar | Buxar to Bhagalpur | V | Bhagalpur downstream to Khalgaon downstream | V |
| Jharkhand | No polluted river stretch | — | No polluted river stretch | — |
| West Bengal | Triveni to Diamond Harbour | III | Baharampore to Diamond Harbour | V |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
Priority classes run from I (most polluted) to V (least polluted) in the CPCB's polluted river stretch classification, so a movement from a lower numeral to a higher one indicates improvement. Source: CPCB report on Polluted River Stretches, 2025, as tabled in the Rajya Sabha on 23 March 2026.
Parameters that meet the standard
On the data for January to August 2025, pH and dissolved oxygen — the two parameters generally treated as the primary indicators of river health — met the bathing-criteria norms at all monitored locations on the Ganga.
Biochemical oxygen demand conformed to the bathing criteria across the entire stretch of the river in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. In Uttar Pradesh it did not conform at three stretches: Farrukhabad to Purana Rajapur in Kanpur; Dalmau in Raebareli; and downstream of Mirzapur to Tarighat in Ghazipur, with three locations within that reach excepted.
Biomonitoring conducted during 2024–25 at 50 locations on the Ganga and its tributaries and 26 on the Yamuna and its tributaries found biological water quality ranging predominantly from good to moderate.
Faecal coliform, 2014 compared with 2025
Median values, most probable number per 100 millilitres, at selected locations.
| Location | 2014 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Assighat, Varanasi | 2,500 | 790 |
| NIT Gandhi Ghat, Patna | 5,400 | 2,200 |
| Patna, downstream of Ganga bridge | 3,000 | 1,950 |
| Har ki Pauri Ghat, Haridwar | — | 135 |
| Downstream of Haridwar | — | 140 |
A dash indicates that the source does not give a 2014 comparison for that location. Lower values indicate less faecal contamination.
Biodiversity and species restoration
A science-based restoration, rescue and rehabilitation programme for riverine species is run in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and State forest departments.
Surveys and rescue
Dolphin surveys have covered 8,507 kilometres across 28 rivers, establishing a nationwide Ganges dolphin population of 6,324. India's first Dolphin Rescue Ambulance was inaugurated on 13 January 2026 by the Union Minister at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, enabling safe rescue and translocation; eight Gangetic dolphins have been rescued and released.
A citizen-led Soons-Saathi network of 100 volunteers across 250 kilometres, together with 160 trained personnel, 2,000 sensitised community members and 15 Dolphin Clubs, supports early reporting and conservation outreach.
Assessment and habitat
Gharial assessments across 22 rivers recorded 3,037 individuals. Habitat modelling indicates that only 5.6 per cent of the assessed habitat is highly suitable, which the assessment identifies as underlining the need for flow regulation and habitat protection.
Technology-driven conservation has been advanced through SMART-based riverine patrolling institutionalised across 210 kilometres of the Chambal in Uttar Pradesh.
Hatcheries and re-wilding
In the Chambal, 387 vulnerable nests containing 8,257 eggs of the endangered Batagur turtle were protected through two riverside hatcheries, returning 7,979 hatchlings to the river — a hatching success of 96.7 per cent.
Threatened species re-wilded with monitoring protocols include 15 captive-hatched Chitra indica, 60 Hardella thurjii and 20 Batagur kachuga, released into the Yamuna, Sarju and Ganga respectively, a proportion of them radio-tagged.
JALAJ and the case for
linking conservation to income
Conservation that asks riverside communities to stop doing what they live on is unlikely to hold. The JALAJ initiative — a joint undertaking of the Namami Gange Mission and the Wildlife Institute of India — is built on that premise, creating livelihood centres in the Ganga basin that connect river conservation to income, with a stated focus on women's participation.
On 28 January 2026 the Union Minister of Jal Shakti inaugurated 25 JALAJ Livelihood Centres at a programme in New Delhi with WaSH Warriors, community representatives and school students, attended by both Ministers of State, the Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and the Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga.
At the same programme he launched an educational outreach project, Youth for Ganga — Youth for Yamuna, intended to extend to schools across the Delhi National Capital Region.
Sources and references
- Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Release ID 2244007, 23 March 2026 — Status of the Namami Gange Programme, reply by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Dr. Raj Bhushan Choudhary, to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 3437 — pib.gov.in
- Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Release ID 2219568, 28 January 2026 — inauguration of 25 JALAJ Livelihood Centres and the launch of Youth for Ganga, Youth for Yamuna — pib.gov.in
- National Mission for Clean Ganga — nmcg.nic.in
- Central Pollution Control Board, report on Polluted River Stretches, 2025, and Ganga water quality monitoring data for January to August 2025
- Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for the species restoration and JALAJ components — wii.gov.in
Last updated: September 2026 · Programme data as at February and March 2026