UP cities with over 1 lakh population to have sewage treatment plants

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up sewage treatment plants STP in every city with a population of over one lakh to cope with the growing population burden of the urban areas, officials have said.

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up sewage treatment plants (STP) in every city with a population of over one lakh to cope with the growing population burden of the urban areas, officials have said. Several schemes are being implemented to maintain cleanliness in the state and strengthen facilities in cities according to population. The state government has already set the target of having STPs for 70 per cent of Uttar Pradesh's population in the next two years.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0, the state government recently approved the City Sanitation Action Plan in 160 urban bodies to provide relief from the sewage problem, a senior official said. It will be followed by preparing a detailed City Sanitation Action Plan, presenting the complete details of sewage management in the state, the present status of the sewer network, STP reports, statistics of main drains and drains of municipal bodies, gap analysis, while chalking out a strategy as per target, he said. It is estimated that in each district only 30 per cent area is urban which houses more than 50 per cent of its population. This is why the government is focusing on strengthening sewer lines and sewage treatment facilities in densely populated areas, the official said. Apart from setting up sewerage treatment plants in each of the cities with a population of one lakh, the government also plans to build pumping stations and an adequate number of septic tanks, he added.