Human and animal corpses are being recklessly dumped in Ganga at various locations across Uttar Pradesh, aggravating pollution in the river, a lawyer told the National Green Tribunal today.
He also submitted pictures of corpses floating in Ganga in Varanasi and claimed no action was being taken to stop such corpses from being disposed in the river.
"The deponent wish to draw the attention of this Court on the issue of floating dead bodies in Ganga in the districts of Uttar Pradesh. That one of the photos show a half burnt dead body of a human being and a dead animal floating in the river.
"Further, it is also important to mention here that the deponent has learnt from the reports published/aired on various electronic and print media that in the month of January, 2015, more than 100 decaying dead bodies surfaced in the Ganga near Pariyar between Kanpur and Unnao," an affidavit filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal said.
The affidavit was filed in pursuance to the green panel's January 18 direction asking the lawyer to file proper documents after he alleged that bodies of humans and animals were being dumped in the river and the authorities were not taking any action.
Taking note of his submissions, NGT had slammed the Centre and UP government over pollution in Ganga at Varanasi and observed that their slogans were contrary to actions.
Bansal, in his affidavit, has said that after burning of a human body, nearly 300 tonnes of ash is being released from ghats which contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, leading to changes in the chemical composition of water.
"There are two burning ghats named Harishchandra and Manikarnika where about 32,000 dead bodies are burnt every year with the help of 10000 tons of dry wood. During the burning of firewood, about 480x108 kilocalorie/yr wood energy is consumed. After burning about 300 tons ash content is released from the burning ghats which contain 77,000 kg Nitrogen, 48,000 kg Phosphorus and 5,000 kg Potassium.
"Due to religious faith, about 200 tons half burnt flesh content is also released in Ganga. Release of huge quantity of ash and flesh contents etc. Changes the quality of river Ganga in Varanasi. Increase in biochemical oxygen demand and decrease in dissolved oxygen content have been detected," the affidavit said.
The panel also told the NGT that the STP at Brijghat
drain in Garhmukteshwar has been made operational, but it was not functional as no untreated sewage was being supplied to the STP and as a result the entire facility is lying idle.
"This is nothing but wastage of public funds with no benefit to the environment or the public," it said.
With regard to the STP at Garh, the panel has supported the location of the plant and said that it would not recommend the location of the STP of Garh near the river since the "transit of pollutants" over a distance of 4-5 kms would pollute ground water and agricultural land.
Earlier, the bench had ordered a CBI probe into the execution of the Ganga cleaning project after it noted that Rs 31.82 crore was spent on two STPs and a 58-km long sewerage line project without due analysis and verification of the actual pollution load in the Garh drain and Brijghat drain.
NGT had slammed the state's Jal Nigam for building the STPs on the drains joining Ganga without any survey and said it had wasted Rs 1500 crore since 1987 and still not cleaned "even a single drop" of the river.
