National Green Tribunal extends term of Ganga pollution oversight committee

The National Green Tribunal has extended the term of an oversight committee to monitor pollution of Ganga river and oversee compliance of environmental norms in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that unless the UP government sets up any other effective alternative mechanism, it may not be advisable to close the committee abruptly.

Accordingly, the term of the oversight committee, for the time being, will be extended for six months. If the State of UP has any other suggestion, it will be open to put forward the same, it said.

"We also request the oversight committee to monitor compliance of directions to oversee preparation of District Environment Management Plans (DEMPs) and their execution by the District Environment Committees (DECs) in terms of order of this tribunal," the bench said.

The tribunal noted that initially the tenure of the oversight committee headed by former high court judge Justice SVS Rathore was for six months which was subsequently extended at different intervals.

The oversight committee replaced earlier committees appointed by the tribunal to monitor pollution of Ganga, rejuvenation of river Hindon and associated issues, sand mining at Allahabad, pollution of thermal power stations in Singrauli, pollution of Ramgarh lake and River Ami in Gorakhpur, solid and biomedical waste management norms etc.

In the course of time, the committee has been requested to monitor compliance of some other environmental issues also relating to water bodies.