River Ganga, which holds a special place in the Hindu religion has been left in a sorry state, due to the years of unabated dumping of industrial and urban sewage all along its banks.
Ever since the Narendra Modi Government took office in 2014, the Prime Minister had made it one of his priorities, to clean up the sacred river.?
BCCL
Now, the government is all set to introduce a bill in the parliament aimed at cracking down on polluting the River Ganga.
The "National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill 2018" which was drafted earlier this year is set to be introduced in the parliament.
BCCL
According to reports, the bill will be introduced in the Parliament in the winter session, which beings on Monday.
The bill provides for the constitution of a Ganga Protection Corps as an armed force called Ganga Protection Corps (GPC) which will ensure the Ganga and its ghats and banks are kept clean.?
The GPC will have the power to arrest those found polluting or obstructing the flow of the River Ganga.?
The Court would take cognizance of the offence based on the complaint filed by the officers who are authorized under the law.
BCCL
The government is also likely to propose stringent punishments for violators.?
Polluting or ¡°obstructing the flow¡± of Ganga may attract a penalty of up to five years imprisonment and a fine as high as Rs 50 crore under the proposed law, The Indian Express reported.
Under this, any act like illegal construction of ports or jetties; storage or diversion of water by any means obstructing the flow of water; mining, stone quarrying or extracting groundwater; and spoiling or defacing the ghats of the Ganga and its tributaries would be a punishable offence.
The punitive measures include a maximum fine of Rs 50 crore has been proposed for obstructing the flow of the Ganga without prior permission and a maximum imprisonment of up to five years for construction of permanent residential or commercial structures in the active floodplains of Ganga and its tributaries.
It also proposes the setting up of two separate bodies a National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection & Management of River Ganga which will have the representation of all 11 states that fall in the basin of the Ganga or are home to major tributaries of the river and will be under the chairmanship of the prime minister.
A second body, National Ganga Rejuvenation Authority (NGRA) will be the custodian of the river and its tributaries.
BCCL
Last month, the NMCG under the Central Government had banned immersion of idols in the Hindu holy river of Ganga and its tributaries.
Earlier this year, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had found that faecal coliform bacteria level in River Ganga was 3 to 12 times higher than the permissible limit at most interstate boundaries.
In December 2018, the CPCB has said that water samples collected from 37 of the 41 locations through which the Ganga river flows reported moderate to severe water pollution in the pre-monsoon period.