The National Green Tribunal on Thursday barred construction of buildings in a radius of 200 metres along the banks of the Ganga in Uttarakhand till further orders. The move is aimed at checking pollutants from being discharged into the river.
The green bench headed by its chairperson Swatanter Kumar said, “We direct that no corporation, authority or panchayat shall grant permission for construction of building, houses, hotels or any structures within 200 metres of shore of river Ganga at the highest flood line without prior approval from the tribunal.”
The bench also sought a report by from Ministry of Water Resources, prepared by seven IITs on the shortcoming of Ganga Action Plan (GAP)-1 and Plan-2 by Friday.
The hearing came in the wake of a petition filed by Advocate M C Mehta that contended of rapid unregulated constructions being carried out by simply taking clearances from village panchayats, which are not expert bodies.
Mehta said that due to unregulated constructions on the banks of river, pollutants were discharged in the river and the hills have become vulnerable to landslides and earthquake.
The Counsel on behalf of Uttarakhand state however said all the schemes and plans under the GAP-2 project were successfully completed and implemented.
To this, the bench then observed that even if the projects were completed as claimed, the situation of river Ganga has gone from bad to worse.”The statement that all the schemes and plans under GAP-2 project were implemented sounds like a joke,” the panel said.
During the hearing Mehta also reiterated his earlier contention that rivers are protected in Western countries from pollution by creating a buffer zone on the banks where no construction is allowed.
However, the tribunal in this regard had earlier said that evolving a 500 meter buffer zone on the banks of river Ganga as in Western countries may not be feasible in a country with diverse landscape as India and that too in hilly terrains as Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, the NGT had on October 29 voiced concern over the execution of Clean Ganga project wondering why any deficiency should be there when it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s priority national projects.