Varanasi: Preparations are in full swing for the formal inauguration of the newly built 120 mld capacity sewage treatment plant (STP) at Goithaha village in trans-Varuna area on Varanasi-Azamgarh highway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the STP during his proposed visit to the city on February 19.The STP, however, functioned for a couple of months after completion of construction by L&T company. The fully automated STP with its 149km pipeline of sewage network will address the problem of sewage treatment in Trans-Varuna area. To deliver the sewage to STP for necessary treatment an intermediate pumping station and a main pumping station have been built. After treatment of sewage, the treated effluent is being disposed to the nearby canal for irrigation use.“Presently we are getting 20-25mld sewage only for treatment, as all the households of the area have not connected to the sewer line,” said KP Zala, an officer who looks after the STP. He claimed that the STP is capable to treat 360mld sewage. The company would take care of operation and maintenance of the STP for five years. Work like landscaping and beautification are in progress in view of the PMs visit to the city.Out of 50,000 households about 25,000 houses have been connected to the sewer line. Full utilization of the STP would be possible in days to come when all the households are connected to this facility, said SK Rai, the general manager of Pollution Control Unit of UP Jal Nigam, the executing agency of the project. All the drains discharging the sewage into Varuna river have been capped.Managing city’s sewage and waste waters has been a major challenge for the authorities, as the city generates about 400mld sewage. Not a single STP was set up for over two decades after the launch of Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in 1986. Although, as per 2011 Census, Varanasi recorded a decadal growth of 17.32% in its population, but its sewage treatment capacity remained 102MLD during this period.However, two STPs with a combined capacity of 260 MLD were sanctioned in the second phase of GAP. One of them has come up at Deenapur with a capacity of 140mld, and other was built at Goithaha with 120mld capacity. Besides, work are in progress at another STP of 50mld in Ramna area. No sewage would go to Ganga and Varuna after the city would attain 412mld sewage treatment capacity, claimed the authorities.

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