DNA Edit: Quiet flows the Ganga – The NGT’s efforts to clean up are being stonewalled

The National Green Tribunal is unhappy with the way the Uttarakhand government has treated the Ganga clean-up project. The Tribunal feels that precious little has been done to rid the holy river of pollution. It continues to be a victim of government apathy, notwithstanding the Centre’s grand pronouncements and crores of rupees allocated for the mission. Exasperated with official indifference, the green body has now sought the views of the people through a survey on the current pollution-control initiatives. By involving the masses – for a 100-crore people, the Ganga is the most sacred and prestigious river – the NGT wishes to make the state and central governments accountable for their actions/inaction. 

While there has been no dearth of status reports – nine of them in the last two years – the tribunal rues the fact that a palpable difference is still a far cry. This can only mean that the reports weren’t even worth the paper they were printed on. Earlier, the National Mission for Clean Ganga had come under NGT’s fire for failing to file a compliance report on the measures taken by Centre and UP and Uttarakhand governments to clean the stretch between Gomukh and Unnao. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that saving the river has ceased to be a priority for the very people in power who had promised to bring about a radical change. 

Even the slew of diktats that the NGT issued to revive the river hasn’t been taken up seriously by the concerned authorities. Pollution of the Ganga is a major environmental issue that will have dire consequences on the health of the people as well as of the river. The NGT is asking some tough questions because already Rs 7,000 crore of the central government’s money has been spent in the last two years with nothing to show in terms of results. On the other hand, the CAG had slammed the government for using only $260 million of the $1.05 billion earmarked for the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) programme between April 2015 and March 2017. So, while funds have been slow to come, progress has been even slower. The truth about progress seems to have been lost in the murky waters of the river, which continues to receive industrial effluents, sewage and other forms of solid waste. This despite the NGT prohibiting the dumping of waste within 500 metres of the river. 

Meanwhile, the declining population of Gangetic dolphins at Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur, allegedly due to dredging operations and movement of large cargo vessels, has raised the hackles of environmentalists. Given the scale of the pollution problem, the Ganga is beyond piecemeal and ad-hoc solutions. Curiously, India has strong environmental laws and a plethora of enforcement agencies. Yet nothing seems to work for the revival mission. Nestled in the gap between laws and their enforcement is the lack of coordination among agencies, which has contributed in no small measure in creating unnecessary roadblocks. The NGT has a tough task at hand, rendered even more difficult by the lack of zeal among the stakeholders.