New Delhi, May 1. (PTI): The water quality of river Ganga has shown improvement after the completion of pollution abatement works under the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), the Government told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The improvement in the water quality has been witnessed at major locations as per the Water Quality Monitoring (WQM) undertaken by independent reputed institutions like the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Indian Institution of Technology (Kanpur) and Indian Toxicological Research Centre (Lucknow), Environment and Forests Minister A Raja said in reply to questions.

At present, there are 158 WQM locations where the water quality is monitored by the Ministry through reputed independent institutions, he said.

Besides, the CPCB conducts WQM at 698 locations on rivers and other water bodies in addition to monitoring of groundwater quality in 321 locations, Raja said.

He, however, noted the World Wide Fund for Nature, an international NGO, has included Ganga as one of world's ten rivers facing risk.

The Government has taken appropriate initiatives and is committed to continue efforts towards the conservation of natural resources, he said.