A Whopping Rs 7,000 Crore Have Been Spent So Far, But Ganga Still Remains Polluted

The report of a fire literally on the Ganga prompted noted environmentalist and lawyer M C Mehta to file a PIL in the Supreme Court over 32 years ago. Discharge of inflammable effluents from nearby industries in Haridwar had caused the fire on water and subsequently triggered the chain of events which culminated in Thursday's NGT judgement directing both central and state authorities to take multiple actions on the ground to comprehensively clean the national river.

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In an interview to TOI , Mehta on Friday recalled how a ground visit to find out the reason for the fire exposed him to the cruel face of industries which used the river to discharge toxic chemicals. "It was really shocking for me to know that a person lit his cigarette and threw the matchstick in the drain joining the river, leading to a massive fire in Ganga. It took nearly 30 hours for authorities to control the fire. The incident had shaken me so much that I, as a lawyer, decided to bring it to the notice of the SC," he said.

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Mehta had filed the petition against four industries, including the public sector BHEL, and the rest is history. The SC had later clubbed cases pertaining to the Ganga river pollution. "Unfortunately, nothing was done on the ground. In fact, all the government agencies, local authorities and industries are under contempt for not following the previous apex court order," said Mehta demanding a probe into the subsequent actions which resulted in spending of over Rs 7,000 crore of public money in the name of cleaning the river Ganga without any concrete result on the ground in the past three decades.

The NGT on Thursday prohibited dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river and ordered that a 100-metre stretch on either side of the river between Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) must be a "no-construction, no-development zone". It also made a provision of imposing Rs 50,000 fine for dumping waste into the river.

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Mehta, recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, who had also fought a long legal battle to protect Taj Mahal from pollution, believes that the implementation of the green court's order is very much possible provided the government shows political will. He said pollution in the Ganga would not have reached the present levels if successive governments, both at Centre and states, had enforced previous SC orders.

He suggested that the government set up a task force (a central body) and entrust it with adequate powers to enforce the NGT order within 500 metres stretch on both sides along the entire length of the river passing through the five states - Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

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On the government's plan to bring a central law on the river Ganga, Mehta believes that no political party could afford to oppose such a law if the government introduces it in Parliament. "Anyone opposing such law would expose himself/herself before the people," he said. He also explained the rationale behind the NGT order, saying it would be in the interest of the people, living along the river. He pointed out that they, in fact are living on toxic land, drinking poisonous water and producing hazardous products. "The health cost of all such activities is far bigger than what they have been earning on the polluted land along the river," said Mehta.