Acting tough against those polluting the Ganga, the Namami Ganga department in Uttar Pradesh has slapped a fine of Rs 3 crore on a Varanasi-based company for callousness in running a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) which led to pollution in the river.
The team raided 12 places across the State, checking the parameters and quality of effluents discharged from the STPs. “To ensure scaling up work on ‘Clean and Flowing Ganga Mission’, the Yogi Government has scaled up action and monitoring and checking of the parameters and quality of STPs, both Government and private. Nine teams are conducting surprise inspections of STPs,” a senior official said in a statement here on Monday.
The first action was taken in Varanasi where Ramana STP was found not to be operating at the fixed parameters. It was also found that the quality of sewage disposal was not up to the mark and after completion of the probe the Namami Ganga department has slapped a fine of Rs 3 crore on the company.
“This is the biggest action so far against callousness in disposal of sewage,” the official said.
This drive is underway at many other places in the state. Uttar Pradesh has 104 operational STPs of which 44 STPs are under the purview of Namami Ganga.
It is important to note here that the state government has rolled out an extensive awareness campaign towards cleanliness of Ganga. To ensure that the Ganga ghats are clean and to ensure that drains do not flow directly into the river, STPs are being made on a large scale and these are being made operational.
Principal Secretary Namami Gange, Anurag Srivastava said the government has made its intention clear and action will continue to be initiated wherever required to ensure that sewage and pollutants donot find way into the river.
“Till the pollution level is brought to zero action against the defaulters will continue,” the official said.