Germany to provide euro 120 mn soft loan for Clean Ganga Mission: Envoy
New Delhi : In an effort to clean the Ganges, Germany is providing a soft loan of euro 120 million (Rs 990 crore approximately) to India to strengthen sewage water treatment infrastructure in Uttarakhand, Charge d'Affaires Jasper Wieck said today.
Elaborating on the work done by the German Embassy, Wieck said the project would focus on extension and replacement of sewerage system (around 360 kilometres) including complete house connection, construction of sewage treatment plants of around 15 million litres per day (mld).
The initiative also includes construction of 13 sewage pumping stations.
"The purpose of the project is to reduce the inflow of untreated waste water in River Ganga and, thus, to improve the water quality of the river," Wieck said.
In 2015, the German government to India committed an interest subsidised loan of up to euro 120 million through German Development Bank KfW for financing investments such as construction of sewerage network and sewage treatment plants.
He added that the German development agency GIZ has prepared a 'Ganga Box', aimed to target schools-going children and inform them about the river.
Vikarant Tyagi, a project coordinator with GIZ, said the concept 'Ganga book' was planned on the lines of 'Danube Book' when the cleaning of the European river was undertaken.
The Ganga book would have information mythological, socio-cultural, economic importance about the river and suggestions to avoid pollution, like not dumping plastic in the water body.
"The aim is to bring change in the behaviour of people towards the river. We have piloted this projected in a government school in Uttarakhand and plan to do replicate it across the state," Tyagi said.
Discussions are on to give the Ganga Box prototype to the National Clean Ganga Mission so that it could replicate it in other states.
courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
