NGT bans plastic from Gomukh to Haridwar

There will be a complete ban on the use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along the Ganga with effect from February 1, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed on Thursday, while slapping a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamshalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river.

The NGT passed a slew of directions to keep the river pollution-free. It held that if any hotel, dharamshala or ashram releases their domestic waste and sewage into the Ganga or its tributaries, then “it shall be liable to pay environmental compensation for causing pollution of the river at the rate of Rs 5,000 per day”.

The green panel divided the cleaning work of the Ganga into different segments - Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of UP, border of UP to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to the Bay of Bengal.

Besides the plastic ban, the NGT has also prohibited throwing of any municipal waste, construction and demolition waste into the Ganga and its tributaries, while announcing that violators will have to pay an environmental compensation at the rate of Rs 5,000 per incident. 

Meanwhile, the NGT has banned camping activity in the entire belt of Kaudiyala to Rishikesh on the banks of river Ganga in Uttarakhand till the regulatory regime comes into force but permitted the adventure sport rafting with immediate effect.