The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed Rs 50,000 fine on anyone found dumping the waste within 500 meters from the edge of River Ganga between Haridwar and Unnao.
The National Green Tribunal passed a slew of directions to rejuvenate River Ganga, declaring as ‘No-Development Zone’ an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river.
The NGT also directed the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to formulate guidelines for religious activities on the ghats of Ganga or its tributaries.
The tribunal also appointed a supervisory committee, headed by the secretary of the Water Resources Ministry and comprising IIT professors and officials from UP government to oversee implementation of the directions.
It said that all industrial units falling in the catchment area of river Ganga should be stopped from indiscriminate extraction of groundwater.
The NGT has divided the work of cleaning the river in different segments Gomukh to Haridwar (Phase-I), Haridwar to Unnao (termed as segment B of Phase-I), Unnao to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.