The National Green Tribunal (NGT) came down heavily on the Ministries of Environment, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation besides Central Pollution Control Board and Uttar Pradesh on Friday, saying their efforts to clean the Ganga have borne zero result. It sought reports on the discharge of industrial waste in the river between Haridwar and Kanpur within two weeks.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson, Swatanter Kumar said, “Everybody comes before us and says ‘we have done this, we have done that’. But the result is zero. The main question is how are you going to protect the river Ganga from Haridwar to KanpurIJ What do you propose to doIJ Tell us your plans.”
The Bench clarified that final opportunity is being given to the concerned agencies for submission of the requisite information and warned that in case of default, it would impose a cost of Rs 25,000 on each of the Secretary concerned.
Nothing substantial has also been done either related to the source of finance for the river cleansing project, the possibility of applying Zero liquid Discharge (waste water purification) to various types of industries and installation of online monitoring system for all industries along the river banks, said the Bench.