Tell us one place where Ganga is clean, National Green Tribunal asks Centre

[prasad1]

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The National Green Tribunal on Friday asked the government to "tell one place" where the Ganga is clean and said that despite spending huge sums, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

Expressing open displeasure over the government's lackadaisical approach towards ensuring cleanliness and uninterrupted flow of the river, it said "we take it that almost nothing has happened in reality."

The green panel, which was asked to act against industrial units polluting Ganga by the Supreme Court, said the Centre and the states over the years have only been shifting responsibility and nothing concrete was visible on the ground.

"Would you please tell us that is it correct that more than Rs 5,000 crore has been spent on Ganga in making it worse from bad. We don't want to know whether you have allotted this quantum of money to the states or have spent it yourself.

"Out of the 2,500km stretch of the river Ganga, tell us one place, where the condition of the river has improved," a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked.

The counsel appearing for ministry of water resources told the bench that almost Rs 4,000 crore has been spent on the rejuvenation of the river since 1985 till last year.
The bench said, "... Better be careful of what you say. We take it as almost nothing has happened in reality. It is not suddenly that we are asking for all the information from you."

"We have been waiting for the last one year. But for one reason or the other, you have been delaying the issue. We don't want to comment on that. But this time we are not leaving it to your discretion, be rest assured. To clean Ganga is your prime responsibility. Days are very short for you," the bench said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Tribunal-asks-Centre/articleshow/49290434.cms

 

[prasad1]

[h=1]Systemic failures in Ganga cleaning plan, heads must roll: SC[/h]
Taking a dim view of the snail's pace at which the Ganga action plan for cleaning the 2,525-km-long river had progressed, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said heads must roll for lack of headway as it pointed to systemic failure and that people on the ground were more interested in bribe than in their task.

"So many heads should roll for the failure to implement the plan. It was not being allowed to be done for corrupt means. This is happening because some people who are entrusted to do the work are not doing it. They are not doing it not because they don't like it but are being bribed," said a bench of Justice TS Thakur, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice R Banumathi.

The strong observation from the bench came as it was told that since 2007 only one sewage treatment plant was set up in Dehradun and repeated reminders from the Central Pollution Control Board to the state pollution control boards in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to act against grossly polluting industries have fallen on deaf ears.

"It has not happened for so many years. If it goes on like that it (Ganga cleaning) may not happen in our lifetime. You have to take preventive steps. There has to be (fixing of) accountability," said Justice Thakur.

The court said this as all through the hearing, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar tried to push the task of cleaning Ganga on the five basin states of Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as the central government had financed the project but the states were responsible for execution.

"You are the architects of the project to make Ganga pollution free," the court told him as it wanted to know about the objectives the central government wanted to accomplish in the first phase of the action plan.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...n-heads-must-roll-SC/articleshow/44828052.cms

 

[yesmohan]

It appears that cleaning the Ganga scheme is nothing but feeding the elephant with " Halwa".

In future, nobody could disprove the quantity of " Halwa" provided to the elephant, as per account.

 

[renuka]

Vishnupadi is the cleanest at Vishnupada!

 

[Brahmanyan]

A good question indeed. I wish the "Green Tribunal" take immediate action against the bribe givers and takers, if they have information.

 

[yesmohan]

A good question indeed. I wish the "Green Tribunal" take immediate action against the bribe givers and takers, if they have information.

Corruptions are so scientific it could not be proved at any point of time.

 

[tbs]

hi

money spent....no result......its like ....OPERATION SUCCESS...BUT PATIENT DIED....

 

[sangom]

Corruptions are so scientific it could not be proved at any point of time.

Our "experts on corruption" have discovered, long ago, that any work to deal with rivers, seas etc., will be the most lucrative because no one would be able to measure or assess the quantity of work done unless there is a 24X7 concurrent audit and watching by independent agency during the nights. Hence, Clean Ganga is like a treasure chest opened up for some favourites for ever.

When I wrote once about the hollowness of Modi's clean Ganga scheme, our RSS/BJP wrotesperson (like, spokesperson, you see!) immediately posted a photo of the Dasaswamedh Ghat, swept and cleaned, as though clean Ganga in BJP parlance meant only "clean ghats"!

 

[prasad1]

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has reiterated the government’s intention to raise new Territorial Army battalions, comprising ex-soldiers and commanded by regular army officers, specifically for cleaning up the Ganga. This is a good move. TA battalions earmarked for ecological tasks have performed well in the past. Yet, given the sheer magnitude of India’s river pollution problem, we need deeper, structural interventions and strict implementation of existing schemes.
This is important because the number of polluted river stretches in India has gone up 14 times in the last 26 years. The number of polluted rivers more than doubled from 121 in 2009 to 275 at last count, says the Central Pollution Control Board.
Sewage from our cities is the biggest problem. Around 75% of river pollution comes from municipal sewage from towns along river banks and 25% from industrial effluents. Shockingly, though urban India generates some 57,233 million litres per day of sewage, we only have the capacity to treat about 37% of this. The rest goes untreated into our rivers, basically turning mighty rivers like Yamuna, in its Delhi stretch, or the Ganga, in its Varanasi stretch, into giant sewers. They are now at breaking point. This is why the National Green Tribunal recently summoned senior officers of concerned departments to spell out a “clear stand” and to show the “one thing” they had done so far with any success.
Thousands of crores spent on river cleanup over the decades have gone down the drain. Since 1985, Rs 5,335 crore has been sanctioned for the National River Conservation Plan, over Rs 1,427 crore for the Ganga Action Plan (phases 1and 2) and over Rs 1,027 crore for the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
The Modi government has renewed focus on rivers with its flagship Namami Gange programme and significantly increased funding. It will do well to remember the lesson from the past: While we may know what is to be done the devil lies in the detail, in getting states and local bodies to work together with the Centre and in strictly enforcing anti-pollution laws, including those with an impact on religious practices. A holistic ecological vision and changing social attitudes around dumping waste in rivers are crucial reverse our sorry record in cleaning up our rivers.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatime...&utm_campaign=TOInewHP&utm_medium=Widget_Stry

 

[sangom]

If the GOI/Parliament have the resolve, they can supercede those municipalities, cancel the permits for housing colonies and industrial units which pollute any river or water body. But it is again the 'corruption asura' who is far mightier in India. Will Modi try at least the ordinance route to this problem, just as he tried in the case of land acquisition? No, because that may not suit the hindutva brigade's interests!