Four held for using soap while bathing in Ganga

The action comes in the wake of a tough stand taken by the Allahabad High Court on the failure of the authorities to prevent the flowing of industrial waste into the Ganga in Kanpur.

The court had even warned that it would punish the municipal commissioner of Kanpur if its directives on preventing the flow of industrial effluents into the river were not implemented completely.

Officials said the police have been asked to patrol the ghats and apprehend anyone who is found to be polluting the river in any form. “The offenders will be booked under relevant provisions of the law and also fined”, they said.

“Bathing of animals and using of soaps of any kind have been completely banned on the ghats. And if in case any animal is found in the Ganga waters, their owners wil be punished,” they said.

“A strict vigil is also being kept on the guest houses and hotels, situated on the ghats of the river, which throw their waste into the river,” the officials said.

According to a survey, 300 million litres per day sewage is generated in Varanasi, which includes 75 million litres per day of industrial effluents.

“Roughly around 112 million litres per day sewage can be treated though the plants, but they don’t work due to power shortage,” said a scientist associated with the Ganga Action Plan.

The scientist further added that in the 10-km stretch from Assi ghat to Raj ghat, the concentration of sulphur dioxide was 135-155 micro gram per cubic metre and that of nitrogen dioxide was 145-165 micro gram per cubic metre in the river atmosphere, which were much above the permissible limit.