The Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced on Thursday, 11 June 2026 that the 70th Executive Committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has sanctioned Rs 115.61 crore for an integrated sanitation, solid and liquid waste, and public health management plan for Haridwar Kumbh Mela 2027.

Context

The approved scheme, titled 'Ekikrit Swachhata, Thos evam Taral Apashisht tatha Janswasthya Prabandhan Yojana' (Integrated Sanitation, Solid and Liquid Waste and Public Health Management Plan), is proposed entirely under the central sector, meaning the entire Rs 115.61 crore outlay will be borne by the Union government. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami welcomed the sanction, stating that the funds would strengthen sanitation, solid waste management, public health infrastructure, and monitoring systems for the 2027 Kumbh Mela at Haridwar. He also expressed gratitude to the Union Minister for Jal Shakti for facilitating the approval.

Policy Backdrop

The National Mission for Clean Ganga is the flagship programme under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, launched to rejuvenate the Ganga through pollution abatement and infrastructure creation. It operates under the broader Namami Gange programme, which was approved by the Cabinet in May 2015 with an initial outlay of Rs 20,000 crore. NMCG has previously routed dedicated sanitation and waste management funds for major Kumbh events, reflecting a pattern of using river conservation missions to meet environmental compliance standards at large religious gatherings.

The Haridwar Kumbh Mela is one of the largest Hindu pilgrimages held every 12 years on the banks of the Ganga, drawing tens of millions of devotees for ritual bathing. Ensuring river cleanliness and public hygiene during the event has been a recurring policy priority for both the central and state governments.

Scope of the Project

The sanctioned funds will be used to install 13,915 toilets, 8,065 urinals, and 2,000 bathing enclosures for pilgrims. For solid waste management, the plan provides for 4,840 dustbins, 31.38 lakh liner bags, 491 waste collection vehicles, 2 trash booms, 15 ghat-cleaning machines, 190 spraying machines and tractors, 55 fogging machines, and 30 grass-cutting machines, along with pesticides, PPE kits, first-aid kits, and road-cleaning consumables.

The project also includes the establishment of transfer station facilities, gas-based crematoriums, and a Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant. A cloud-based monitoring dashboard will be developed to strengthen real-time oversight and management of sanitation operations during the mela.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are the crores of pilgrims expected to visit Haridwar during the 2027 Kumbh Mela. Haridwar municipal bodies and state agencies will be responsible for the physical rollout of the infrastructure. The inclusion of a Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant and trash booms directly addresses the risk of Ganga river pollution during peak bathing days, a longstanding environmental concern raised by regulators and civil society.

What's Next

Attention will now shift to the tendering and on-ground deployment of the sanctioned infrastructure, including the 13,915 toilets and treatment plants, well ahead of the 2027 mela. NMCG progress reports on such projects are typically tabled in Parliament, making the execution timeline a matter of public accountability. The success of this centrally funded model at Haridwar could further consolidate the practice of channelling major pilgrimage sanitation needs through river conservation missions.