Law to Punish Those Polluting Ganga

The government will soon bring forth a legislation to punish those who pollute the Ganga river, Minister Uma Bharti said on Monday.

In response to a question on whether the industries polluting Ganga have been punished, the minister informed the Rajya Sabha that there are 764 industries on the banks of Ganga which are polluting it, adding, "We have taken action against some, and our government is committed to taking most stringent action."

"We will propose an act on this after consulting state governments," the minister said.

She added, "Poor people go to jail even for stealing beedi, but those polluting Ganga do not go to jail."

In response to another question on whether releasing prayer offerings like flowers in the river was also polluting it, the minister said, "Ganga is not polluted because of prayer offerings, it is because of industrial effluents, sewage and plastic which obstructs the flow."

"But yes, when the prayer offerings get stuck in the stagnant water it causes some pollution," she said.

The minister also said that the river is pious, but not chemically pure.

"Ganga is always pious. Sadly, if we test the water in a lab, from the perspective of the chemical content, it is not clean but from the point of view of respect, it is pious," the minister added.

Source: Business Standard 

Media

Taxonomy

• Pollution
• River Restoration
• Waste Disposal
• Waste Water Treatment

5 Comments

1. The polluters pay principle that applies here in the U.S. for the EPA should not be exempt just because it is a developing nation like India and I am glad to see that progress is being made to make the polluters pay for the damage they cause to the Ganges River to protect its beneficial and spiritual uses. There is no excuse in the 21st century for complete disregard for environmental health and quality with discharging raw sewage and effluent into waterbodies that people rely on for their day to day needs in India or any part of the world for that matter and paper spiritual pieces are high unlikely to be major factors explaining why the Ganges is the most polluted waterbody in the world though the most spiritually revered.

   To contrast, I am from Israel originally and the Jordan River is a great similar example of a once very spiritual waterbody that has been abused with over-diversion from the same mountain aquifer and and polluted in a similar way the Ganges has with very little to no polluters paying the price for the environmental damaged caused by those impacts. Though not as severely polluted as the Ganges River, while some organizations are doing something about it there is nothing being done about it on a government scale barely at all. So hopefully this is a catalyst and sign for stronger pollution control laws to come into effect in India to protect public health exposures especially in very poor communities and the environment with the ecological health of the river.

2. Enforcement of 764 industries and others polluting Ganga River. 1-Serve legal documents to industries and serve in person by pollution control officer. Have back -up police near by to protect pollution control officer but not with officer. Try to come in uniform with badge and ID. Keep in mind some industries may make 1st call to an elected official and 2nd call to this attorney. 2-If you are asked to leave ,leave. If not try to set up 1st meeting to set up schedule for monitoring and inspection on site of plant. Try next week if not two weeks. Try to get phone # of Superintendent and forman. Tell them this is not a social call. It is OK to tell them you are in big trouble. Do not go to lunch with them. 3- Key words are monitoring, real time if possible and use of handheld gps and pdf on all forms. Inspections should be weekly at first. Then monthly. 4-Industries and others will have many reasons not to work with you. Follow up by pollution control officer is a must. Do not let them cause any more harm to Ganga River.     

3. Honourable Minister Uma Bharti ji must be applauded for her serious intent and objective response to the problems in River System -- Ganga.

   I think that it shall be much better that GOI thinks pragmatically and works towards developing / improving the laws under sole authorisation of MoWR to be wholly solely authorised and responsible for ALL RIVER SYSTEMS and Surface Reservoirs .It can have an NGT style of Legally empowered Tribunal to ensure that infringement of Laws and Natural Justice to River Systems is done and culprits are punished. States shall never implement laws and programs as planned.

4. Organization like ORSANCO can be studied for learning lessons and building a similar institution for control of Ganga pollution monitoring and control. A combination of setting and enforcing effluent and stream standards would be essential for this purpose. More recently, Charles river project also provides a contemporary approach to learn from.

5. The action against polluter particularly discharging inhibitive and prohibitive  chemicals/substances in Ganges is must and enforced strictly. Mire than the polluter, authorities who allows polluter to pollute Ganga are mire responsible than direct polluter. I am of strong opinion that all pollution control authorities in Ganga basin  and also all major rivers flowing to Ganga shall be watched by special Task force to watch the illegal nexus between polluter and law enforcing officers. Ganga clean is possible if environmental laws of country are enforced honestly.