No evidence of Ganga water getting poisonous due to pollution

NEW DELHI: There is no evidence of Ganga water getting poisonous due to pollution, environment minister Namo Narain Meena told the Rajya Sabha.

"As informed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there is no evidence of the river water of holy Ganga getting poisonous due to pollution," he said in a reply to a question.

He said water quality monitoring carried out by reputed institutions indicates that the water quality conforms to prescribed standards in terms of key indicators namely biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) at most of the locations except for marginal deviations at a few locations between Kannauj and Varanasi in Uttar Pardesh.

"The levels of fecel Coliform are reported to be exceeding the maximum possible limit of 2500 MPN(most probable number) per 100 mililitre at the number of monitoring stations along the river Ganga," the minister added.