New Ganga Clean-up Law

Highlights of the Present Bill

  • Constitution of an armed Ganga Protection Corps (GPC): The draft seeks to constitute GPC whose personnel will have the authority to arrest those who pollute the river. The offenders may face a prison term of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh. GPC will follow Code of Criminal Procedure.
  • Its personnel will be provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs and will be deployed by National Ganga Rejuvenation Authority.
  • The draft bill lays down provision for a National Ganga Council and a National Ganga Rejuvenation Authority to enforce the law and protect the river which flows over 2500 km.
  • Among the cognizable offences, there are “Construction activities causing obstruction in the river; withdrawal of ground water for industrial or commercial consumption from the land fronting the river and its tributaries; commercial fishing or aqua culture in the river and its tributaries; discharging untreated or treated sewage into the river”.
  • No person or municipal authority will establish or take any steps to set up any industrial or residential or commercial premises or structure which may result in discharge of any sewage or trade effluent into the Ganga, otherwise he may face a five-year prison term or a fine of Rs.50,000 per day or both.

Need to protect Ganga

  • The Ganga flows for 2,525km passing through five Indian states—Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal—before discharging into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganga basin covers 26% of the country.
  • It is the largest river in India and is known as Life Line(the river of life) specially for the north India.
  • Over 50 crore(500 million) people reside in the Ganga basin.
  • The Ganga passes alongside the most populated cities(population more than 10,00,000).
  • Polluted Ganga cause 12% of disease in UP.
  • The pollution in Ganga also affects the flora and fauna in the river ecosystem and the nearby areas.

Need to Know the Causes of Pollution at Ganga? Click Here

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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