“Clean Ganga Mission Has Become Money Minting Machine”: Allahabad HC Says No Work Visible

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday made serious comments on the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) while hearing a PIL filed in the Ganga pollution case. The court said that this mission has become a money-distributing machine, reported.

“Is the Ganga being cleaned with the money distributed by it for cleaning the Ganga? There is neither monitoring nor any work is visible at the ground level. The work being done by it is only deceiving the eyes,” the court remarked.

A full bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Ajit Kumar made this observation on a PIL filed for keeping Ganga free from pollution.

During the hearing of the case, the court inquired about the details of the budget allocated by the NMCG and asked whether the budget of crores of rupees spent for cleaning Ganga has worked or not. The court did not get any reply on this. The court said that NMCG has become a money distribution machine and nothing else as no work has been done on the land. Earlier, as soon as the hearing started, the court took on record the affidavits filed by several departments including NMCG, Central Pollution Control Board, UP Pollution Control Board, Jal Nigam Rural and Urban, Municipal Corporation Prayagraj and asked information from them turn by turn. But the court was not satisfied with their replies.

The court asked whether there is an environmental engineer on such a big project or not. The court was told that all the officers working in NMCG are environmental engineers and no project passes without their consent. When the court asked how the projects were monitored, there was no response. In the affidavits filed in the court, it was found that the STP plants installed in other cities including Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj are not working as per the standard. In Kanpur all the drains are untapped while in Varanasi two are untapped. Due to this the water of the drains is falling directly into the Ganges.

The Central Pollution Control Board had also given the same report. Most of the STPs are not working and some of them are not working as per the standard. When the court asked who asked for the adoption of the bioremedial method, it was told that this method was used on the instructions of the National Green Tribunal. When the court sought information about the order of the National Green Tribunal, the Central Pollution Board could not give any reference to it.

The court was informed on behalf of Prayagraj Municipal Corporation that Rs 44 lakh are being spent per month for cleaning the drains. The court expressed surprise at this. “Crores are being spent in a year, yet the situation is the same?,” the court questioned. The UP Pollution Control Board said that it has received 332 complaints so far, which 48 conviction have been done yet. Action against the rest is in process. T

The court has fixed November 1 as next date for hearing the matter.

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