HC stops Ganga Action Plan work

The court was passing orders last week on a petition by two municipal corporators of the Varanasi Nagar Nigam, alleging total failure of the GAP.A division bench comprising Justice Giridhar Malaviya and Justice K D Shahi said, "it is now almost clear that on account of failure of the scheme everywhere and in particular in Varanasi, pollution instead of being controlled, had multiplied."

The sorry state of affairs, the court observed, was because the work was undertaken without getting the projectreport prepared in consultation with experts who should have examined various aspects to ensure the money spent on the project was well-utilised.

"Accordingly it has become necessary to stop all work till the entire project is carefully examined and scrutinised by a group of environmental experts," the court said.

It was clear, the judges said, that at Varanasi people were virtually bathing in faecal water being discharged in the river as the Deenapur sewage treatment plant was unable to produce the desired result.

Also, the activated sludge plant was not meant to control faecal coliform bacteria, they noted.

The court directed the projects under the gap could be taken up for implementation only after getting clearance from the committee, to be set up by the environment ministry.

To begin with, the committee would comprise Dr P Khanna of the National Environment Engineering Research Institute, senior advisor of Environment Ministry Dr S C Moudgil, Chief Engineer of Central Public Works Department SK Chawla, former member secretary of central Pollution Control Board Dr G D Aggarwal, director of Central Environmental Education, Pollution, Ecology Research Centre of advanced study in Botany at the Banares Hindu University Dr B D Tripathi and noted environmental lawyer M C Mehta.

The centre has sought one month’s time to decide on the constitution of the committee.

The court directed the GAP that the two scheme should not be cleared till it was discussed and approved by the experts committee.