NGT seeks report on Ganga rejuvenation

NGT seeks report on Ganga rejuvenation

Context:

• The National Green Tribunal has sought a compliance report on the steps taken by the Centre, U.P. and Uttarakhand governments to clean river Ganga in the stretch between Gomukh and Unnao.

Introduction:

• A Bench, headed by Justice Jawad Rahim, directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam to submit a report on the number of drains joining river from Kanpur to the U.P. border.
• The matter was posted for next hearing on March 12.
• The Tribunal had earlier, in a detailed judgement, said the government has spent over Rs. 7,000 crore in two years to clean the Ganga which still remains a “serious environmental issue”.
•  The tribunal also imposed a complete prohibition on disposal of municipal solid waste, e-waste or bio-medical waste on the floodplains or into the river and its tributaries.
• The Tribunal reiterated its earlier order of ban on mechanical mining in Ganga and said “no in-stream mechanical mining is permitted and even the mining on the floodplain should be semi-mechanical and preferably more manual”.

No-development zones:

• The green panel, in a detailed judgement, had passed a slew of directions to rejuvenate Ganga, declaring as ‘No Development Zone’ an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river.
• No-development zones are areas where no construction, including commercial or residential buildings, can come up.