STPs, networks low on capacity to treat Patna’s sewage water: CAG report

The installed treatment capacity of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Patna is highly inadequate to handle the current discharge of effluents, observed the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India in its report that was laid on the floor of the state legislature recently.

PATNA: The installed treatment capacity of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Patna is highly inadequate to handle the current discharge of effluents, observed the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India in its report that was laid on the floor of the state legislature recently.

the slow pace of progress on the construction of the STPs and their related network, mainly owing to inordinate delay in offering no-objection certificates from different departments, has led to the continued flow of untreated sewage water directly into river Ganga and Punpun, another major tributary of Ganga. (Picture for representation)

Moreover, the slow pace of progress on the construction of the STPs and their related network, mainly owing to inordinate delay in offering no-objection certificates from different departments, has led to the continued flow of untreated sewage water directly into river Ganga and Punpun, another major tributary of Ganga.

The CAG report stated that it was in contract to the National Ganga River Basin Authority’s (NGEBA) resolve to completely check the flow of untreated sewage and contaminated wastewater in river Ganga by 2020. “None of the six STPs and their networks is complete in entirety, even as the executing agency, Bihar urban infrastructure development corporation (Buidco) had been allotted the sanctioned almost entire cost of the projects, amounting to ₹3288.69 crore,” the report stated.

Citing insufficiency with the proposed STP installations being built under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to treat the sewage discharge, the report stated that all STPs are designed to treat only 350 million litre/day (MLD) in the face of prevailing discharge of 628.50MLD in the state capital. The Bihar state pollution control board (BSPCB) has already identified 19 drains that discharge as much quantity of untreated sewage water directly to the Ganga.

“Of the total fund allotted for six STPs and five network units (sanctioned from July 2014 to August 2017), the Buidco could utilize around 36% of money approved for the schemes till the time audit was made,” said a senior officer of the Principal Accountant General (PAG) office. “Only two of the 11 projects, Beur STP and Karmalichak STP were found to be complete. However, they are not functioning optimally as their network is still incomplete,” the report said, adding a large number of houses are still to be connected to the sewerage network.

The report also questioned the selection and award work to build STPs and their network to VA Tech WABAG Limited, a Chennai-based firm, even as another firm, UEM India Pvt Ltd, had quoted a lower bid amount without the land price for the installations. VA Tech Limited is executing three STPs (Pahari, Digha, and Kankarbagh) along with the sewerage network. “Various structural flaws were noted in the STPs by IIT- Patna, during the third-party inspection,” it said, adding that the quality of work is also sub-standard.

Buidco managing director Dharmendra Kumar, however, could not be contacted for his comments.