The National Green Tribunal has directed Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand government to identify seriously polluting industries located on the banks of Ganga and apprise it about "quantity and quality" of discharge generated by them in the river.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed both state governments to inform it about the number of teams required for inspecting these "seriously polluting" industries from Haridwar to Kanpur.
"Department of Urban Development of Uttarakhand shall inform the Tribunal about the complete programme in relation to discharge of any sewage or effluent into the river Ganga. It will state the quantity and quality of discharge.
"Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board (UPCB) and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) shall submit analysis report before the Tribunal positively before the next date of hearing," the bench, also comprising Justice U D Salvi, said.
The green panel also ordered a joint inspection by a team consisting officials from Central Pollution Control Board, UPPCB, UPCB and a representative from Environment Ministry at points where tributaries of river Ganga from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh meet the Ganga.
"They will clearly state the quality of the water, quantum of effluent and sewage that is containing in each of these tributaries or river," the bench said.
It directed Uttarakhand government to take a clear stand on industrial pockets located at Haridwar within two weeks.
Earlier, the Tribunal had directed the Centre not to release funds for cleaning the river from Gomukh to Kanpur without its nod, chiding the two states for failing to identify the serious polluting locations.
Irked at the lackadaisical approach of officials of the two states for failing to enumerate the causes for pollution and the locations affected, the bench had asked the Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation, through National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), not to release funds to the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments without its approval.
On the issue of sewage management, the NGT was informed
that at present 823.1 MLD sewage was being discharged without treatment directly into the river and the gap will be fulfilled after construction of proposed STPs.
"30 storm water drains carrying sewage and sullage (waste water) and other wastes joining Ganga at various locations, should have flow measuring systems at the terminal points for assessing the quantity of waste water being discharged.
"The identified 30 sewage carrying drains joining Ganga should be hygienically maintained and properly dredged at regular intervals. Dredged material should be disposed off properly without having any environmental impacts," it said.
With regard to water quality assessment, the pollution monitoring body said that keeping in view that water quality of Ganga indicates presence of high number of fecal coliform bacteria monitoring of water quality of the river at various locations would be carried out on regular basis and monthly data be published on its website.
"Till full-fledged STP are set-up, concerned bodies should set up temporary treatment systems within next six months to reduce existing pollution load," it said.
CPCB said that on experimental basis, UP Irrigation Department will release some more quantity of water into Ganga from Narora barrage and monitor whether it has any consequences on other users like farmers.
"The Irrigation Department will submit fortnightly report to the Ministry of Water Resources indicating the quantity of water released and quantity of water flowing in the river in various locations from Narora to Kanpur," it said.
The green panel had divided the work of cleaning the river into different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.
On December 11 last year, the tribunal had imposed a complete ban on use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along the river from February 1 and decided to slap a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamsalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river.
