NGT Bans Plastic Items in Towns Along River Ganga

NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar banned the sale, manufacture and storage of such items till Uttarkashi.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday, 11 December, refused to lift the 2015 order banning the use, sale, manufacturing and storage of plastic items in the pilgrimage towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.

The ban includes plastic items used in any form such as polybags, items used for serving or packing food and others. Failure to comply with the order will result in a fine of Rs 50,000.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to save the Ganga while filing nomination papers from Varanasi in 2014. Subsequently, the government launched the Namami Gange project and allocated Rs 20,000 crore as its budget for five years.

In The Quint’s report on the amount spent by the government on Ganga’s clean-up, findings revealed that only Rs 3,633 crore had been allocated, of which only Rs 1,836 crore has been spent from 2014 to 2017.

The data from the Ministry of Water Resources showed dangerously slow progress for the project.

Tribunal’s Landmark Judgement in 2017

The National Green Tribunal stated that the government’s expenditure of Rs 7,000 crore in two years to cleanse the Ganga still remains a “serious environmental issue”, Indian Express reported.

In response to the pathetic pace of the project, a five-member bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) delivered a landmark judgement on the rejuvenation of the river on 13 July 2017. 

The 543-page judgement provided a comprehensive blueprint through a series of directives to deal with river pollution.

According to the Indian Express report, an offender would be liable to pay a penalty of Rs 50,000 if found dumping waste within 500 metres of the river. In addition, construction activity within 100 metres of the river’s edge was also banned. The same stretch was to be declared a 'no-development zone' .

"Till the demarcation of floodplains and identification of permissible and non-permissible activities by the state government of this judgement, we direct that 100 meters from the edge of the river would be treated as no development/construction zone between Haridwar to Unnao in UP,” stated the NGT order.

Noted environmentalist and lawyer M C Mehta, who was the petitioner demanded a CBI probe into the expenditure incurred by both Centre and state government to clean the 500 km stretch of the river.

In the order, the environment said all projects referred to in its verdict should be finalised by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and said that Ministry of Water Resources and NMCG are duty-bound to finalise these projects out of the available fund. 

The environment watchdog had directed all concerned authorities to start work on setting up of sewage treatment plants followed by the installation of anti-pollution devices within four months and complete it within two years.

In April, the UP government had proposed moving the British-era tanneries to Kanpur, PTI reported.

The tribunal ordered tannery clusters located at Banther and Unnao to install chromium recovery plants within four weeks so as to prevent open discharge of effluents into drains , Times of India reported. NGT also formed a supervisory committee and asked it to submit a progress report.

Reportedly, miffed by the inaction of Haryana and Rajasthan governments for not submitting their action plan on cleaning and rejuvenation of the river, the tribunal issued issued bailable warrants against the governments in September 2017.

The NGT Chairperson objected to the counsel’s absence despite its July 13 order.

(With inputs from Times of India, Indian Express, Outlook)

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