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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Jul 15, 2017, 08:23 AM IST
The slew of measures enforced by the National Green Tribunal to revive the Ganges aims to protect the rights of an ailing river.
By earmarking 100 metres from the banks on either side along the stretch between Haridwar and Unnao in UP as a no-construction, no-development zone, the Tribunal has erected a wall — metaphorically speaking — to save the river from land sharks and polluting industries. Since a fine of Rs 50,000 will now be slapped for dumping waste in the waters, at least a part of the river and its ecosystem can finally breathe without difficulty.
The third challenge to resuscitation has also been surmounted with the NGT directing that the minimum environmental flow in the main river should not drop below 20 per cent of the average monthly lean season flow. The NGT’s frustration at the apparent failure of the government’s multi-crore initiative to save the river was evident when it called for an effective strategy that also included the UP government’s responsibility to ensure that 86 drains, as well as other major drains and sewage lines connecting to Ganga, are dredged, cleaned of sludge, and the waste removed within six weeks from Thursday.
It’s true, as the Tribunal had observed in its judgement, that the river quality has deteriorated over 30 years primarily due to government inaction, even when the Supreme Court has repeatedly intervened to rescue the river.
However, it is also true that indiscriminate dam-building in the upper reaches has crippled the river. Since the flow of the water is regulated by barrages, in the lean season when the level of the water goes down, the density of pollutants automatically rise.
The Supreme Court will now have to decide how many dams can be built upstream. Despite the Narendra Modi government’s best intentions, certain states have failed to perform their duties in cleaning up the river. The Namami Gange Mission was held hostage by politics, particularly in UP, which was ruled by the Samajwadi Party for 10 years.
It is also the largest state along the river’s 2,500-km-long journey. What has been consistently overlooked in the past few years is that saving the Ganga is a collective responsibility inviting both government and citizens participation. Now that institutional structures like the NGT and the courts have shown the way, the government should ramp up its efforts and be more proactive on the ground.
