Next week, the Government’s Clean Ganga project will face the litmus test in the Supreme Court, which has directed the Centre to present a status report on the steps taken so far to make the holy river achieve its pristine glory.
Focusing on the sewage treatment plants to be set up in all cities situated on the banks of the river Ganga, a Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud told Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to come prepared with details of the number of plants installed by January 24, the next date of hearing.
The last affidavit with regard to the Ganga Action Plan was filed by Centre in the year 2015. Kumar reminded the Court that the Centre was committed to achieve this goal by the year 2018. He even listed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s priority in this regard by renaming the Water Resources Ministry to also include Ganga Rejuvenation as a dedicated wing.
The Bench had its apprehensions as the matter had been lingering on in Court for the past 32 years. Petitioner MC Mehta informed the court that precious little has been done till date. Despite crores of rupees spent under the Action Plan, the river continued to remain filthy and unfit for drinking purpose along cities bordering the river in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The Bench asked the Centre if the project will achieve the desired results at this pace even by 2018 or the Centre is keen to make this a poll issue in the 2019 elections as well. Kumar said, “We don’t want to keep the issue alive. We will do it by 2018.” Since the earlier affidavit was of 2015, the bench sought an updated status report on the work done as on December 31, 2016. “We do not intend to keep the matter pending…It is a very old and important matter. We only want to know what you have done in terms of verifiable projects.”
In its monitoring of the Ganga cleaning project, the court had asked the Government how it planned to implement the ambitious scheme. The Centre informed the apex court that the project will be applied phase-wise by achieving total sanitation in 118 towns along Ganga in the first phase. A linked matter of removing tannery factories located along the river is being dealt with by the National Green Tribunal.