Pollution in Ganga: NGT reprimands Centre, UP Govt.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday reprimanded the Centre and Uttar Pradesh Government over pollution in the river Ganga.

The NGT said the slogans of the Centre as well as the state government are contradictory to the actions being taken.

The green panel had earlier directed the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Governments to identify "seriously polluting" industries located on the banks of the Ganga and apprise it about "quantity and quality" of discharge generated by them in the river.

Earlier, the NGT had directed the Centre not to release funds for cleaning the river from Gomukh to Kanpur without its nod, chiding the two states for failing to identify the serious polluting locations.

Before that, it had banned use of any kind of plastic from Gomukh to Haridwar along Ganga from February 1.

It had also slapped a penalty of Rs. 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamshalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river.

It also banned camping activity in the entire belt of Kaudiyala to Rishikesh on the banks of Ganga in Uttarakhand till the regulatory regime comes into force, but permitted the adventure sport rafting with immediate effect.

The tribunal passed a slew of directions to keep the river pollution free. It held that if any hotel, dharamshala or ashram releases their domestic waste and sewage into Ganga or its tributaries, then it shall be liable to pay environmental compensation for causing pollution of the river at the rate of Rs 5,000 per day.

Besides the plastic ban, the tribunal also prohibited throwing of any municipal waste, construction and demolition wastes into Ganga and its tributaries while announcing that violators will have to pay an environmental compensation at the rate of Rs 5,000 per incident.

The green bench further held that all the seriously polluting industries, which are operating without consent of the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board, would be closed with immediate effect.