'Will You Clean Up Ganga In This Term or The Next?' Supreme Court Asks Centre

[The_Showstopper]

'Will You Clean Up Ganga In This Term or The Next?' Supreme Court Asks Centre
All India | Reported by A Vaidyanathan, Edited by Anindita Sanyal | Updated: January 14, 2015 18:35 IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has again criticised the poor progress of the Ganga Action Plan and asked the NDA government whether it would be able to complete the cleaning of the river in this term or in the next.

The cleaning of the Ganga has been on for the last 30 years and aroundRs. 2000 crore have been spent so far, the court pointed out. "Do you want to complete it this term or the next term... keeping the issue alive?" a three-judge bench headed by Justice TS Thakur told the Centre.

Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court that the work could be completed by 2018. Already, 118 towns along the river have been identified for the setting up of sewage treatment plants, the Centre said.

Not mollified, the court directed the Centre to submit a status report on the progress of the sewage treatment plants.

"Since we have handed over the issue of industrial pollution to the National Green Tribunal, only domestic waste is left, and we hope you don't have financial problem for the project," the court said.

This was the second time in the last six months the top court pulled up the authorities in charge of cleaning up the 2,500 km river - the hearing in the case has been on since 1985.

In September, the court said the Centre's action plan may not help clean the river Ganga "even after 200 years".

"We don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of committees," the court said. "You should take steps so that Ganga gets its pristine glory. We don't know whether we will see it or not."

The pollution control boards have also come in for sharp rebuke. "Yours is a story of complete failure, frustration and disaster," the court said in October, pointing out that if the dumping of industrial effluents could be stopped, 30% of the river would be clean.

The state boards were not making an effort in this direction because of "deep-rooted corruption", the court said.

The Green Tribunal had been directed to submit a report on industrial pollution every six months.

'Will You Clean Up Ganga In This Term or The Next?' Supreme Court Asks Centre

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

The Holy Ganges pollution is low priority while Mars orbiter and Rafale are more important !

 

[IndoCarib]

Cleaning of Ganga needs a minimum couple of decades. It has filth of more than a century. Modi needs 4 terms to complete the task.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Modi needs 4 terms to complete the task.

So Modi is the only person that can clean Ganges and no other political government can do it ? When is Modi being declared reincarnated avatar of an Hindu god.

 

[IndoCarib]

So Modi is the only person that can clean Ganges and no other political government can do it ? When is Modi being declared reincarnated avatar of an Hindu god.

The court is posing question to Modi.

 

[Levina]

There's a clean up ganga campaign which NDA started off to get donations from NRIs (2000 crores wont be enough) and also govt had started inspecting sewage treatment plants. Frankly its not just govt's responsibility.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

The court is posing question to Modi.

Then Modi should quit his job and work as garbageman cleaning the Ganges. The Supreme court probably knows that Modi is better suited as garbageman than PM.

 

[Abotani]

Give up already.That river isn't going to be cleaned up anytime soon.Precious resources have been wasted over it for nothing.The money might be better used giving quality education to some from the masses,certainly a better use than wasting resources over a "holy river".

 

[itachiii]

before cleaning up the river , efforts have to be made to stop polluting the river anyfurther..

 

[Not Sure]

Cleaning of Ganga needs a minimum couple of decades. It has filth of more than a century. Modi needs 4 terms to complete the task.

Not really, 20 years ago I could drink straight from the river past Varanasi. Today, you can't even dare bath in it at Garhmukteshwar.

Entire Ganga can be cleaned within 5 years provided the government has the will to do it.

 

[jarves]

The Holy Ganges pollution is low priority while Mars orbiter and Rafale are more important !

Is this the way you do things in Pakistan?,like using education/research/ budget for cleaniless projects?.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Is this the way you do things in Pakistan?,like using education/research/ budget for cleaniless projects?.

The Ganges river is a holy river in Hinduism. So cleaning a holy place can be a priority for some.

 

[Soumitra]

Private companies may be roped in for Ganga sewage treatment

NEW DELHI: Guided by its self-imposed deadline to clean the Ganga by 2018, the government is planning to involve private sector in a big way by introducing a 'revenue model' for sewage treatment in all 118 towns along the banks of the national river.

The suggestion to consider sewage treatment as an industry is part of an interim report of the consortium of seven IITs which is set to submit its final recommendations to the ministry of water resources and Ganga rejuvenation this month.

Though the government has already started its groundwork and held several rounds of inter-ministerial consultations to implement the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project to clean the river, it is largely banking on the consortium's final report to settle on the roadmap.


Sources privy to the contents of draft report said that IIT experts would also come out with many other path-breaking recommendations on how to maintain the river's uninterrupted flow - an important prerequisite to clean the Ganga.

"It will in its final report tell the government to consider sewage treatment as an industry and involve private sector in such a way that they also get benefits from setting up and operating sewage treatment plants (STPs)", said an official who has been coordinating with the consortium.

He said IIT experts felt that only policing, monitoring and regulations were not enough to clean the river. They felt that all these actions should be assisted by introducing a price-based mechanism where industry may not only recover the cost of setting up STPs but also earn revenue by treating sewage. The government can also give them a guarantee to buy the entire treated water and distribute it for reuse among different industries and local municipal bodies in towns\cities, the official added.

The group of experts also pointed out that since the government in the past had spoiled the river by constructing Tehri Dam which obstructed the river's natural flow, it would now have to go for a technical solution to create a passage so the river can pass through a reservoir. They felt that this is the only way to maintain the uninterrupted flow of the river downstream.

This and complete ban of any such structure on Ganga and its tributaries in future, mobilization of religious leaders for creating awareness on proper disposal of 'puja' materials, setting up of a Ganga river basin management commission through a Parliament act so it can be the custodian of the entire river and strictly following a 'zero discharge' policy by existing industries are some of the suggestions which will be the highlights of the forthcoming IIT consortium final report.

 

[Tshering22]

Unless and until factories alongside Ganga are shut down, this cannot change.

Court should also offer solutions if they have rather than just asking questions.

1 century of dirt cannot be cleaned in 4 years. There are attempts but there are also other problems.

 

[IndoUS]

Unless and until factories alongside Ganga are shut down, this cannot change.

Court should also offer solutions if they have rather than just asking questions.

1 century of dirt cannot be cleaned in 4 years. There are attempts but there are also other problems.

It's not about shutting down factories, there are many factories in Detroit that are near the detroit river or the lake, yet the lake here is very clean. The problem is that we don't regulate these factories really well, we need proper rules for these factories as to what is allowed to be discarded in the river.