<p>The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the government not to give a bureaucratic answer about its plan to clean up the Ganga and instead unveil a stage-by-stage timeline for effective monitoring.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"Don't give us a vision plan. An artist's view. It may take 200 years to implement," said a bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi. "We don't know if it (cleaning Ganga) will happen in our generation."<br /><br />"Can you indicate the stages through which this plan has to move and the time involved in each stage?" asked Justice Thakur as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar started reading from a 29-page affidavit starting with the 1985 first Ganga Action Plan.<br /><br />The court wanted to be enlightened by "someone who has a comprehensive view of how Ganga would be made pollution free, nitty-gritty of the plan, and how the milestones can be achieved". <br /><br />The 2,525-km long Ganga, which originates in the Himalayas, is considered the holiest of rivers by Hindus.<br /><br />Telling Kumar that the government had given a "very bureaucratic answer" to its query, the court said it wanted to know how much will be achieved in the five years this government will be in office.<br /><br />During the last hearing Aug 13, the court had sought the status report on the government's action plan to clean the Ganga along with a roadmap. <br /><br />The court had also sought a report on what the government was doing to clean the river from Gangotri up to Haridwar in the first phase.<br /><br />Justice Thakur observed: "But for nature, it (Ganga) would have been worst. It is nature that is doing a lot of cleaning." <br /><br />The court told the solicitor general if polluting industries needed to be relocated, the court could assist the government with legal process.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the government not to give a bureaucratic answer about its plan to clean up the Ganga and instead unveil a stage-by-stage timeline for effective monitoring.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"Don't give us a vision plan. An artist's view. It may take 200 years to implement," said a bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi. "We don't know if it (cleaning Ganga) will happen in our generation."<br /><br />"Can you indicate the stages through which this plan has to move and the time involved in each stage?" asked Justice Thakur as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar started reading from a 29-page affidavit starting with the 1985 first Ganga Action Plan.<br /><br />The court wanted to be enlightened by "someone who has a comprehensive view of how Ganga would be made pollution free, nitty-gritty of the plan, and how the milestones can be achieved". <br /><br />The 2,525-km long Ganga, which originates in the Himalayas, is considered the holiest of rivers by Hindus.<br /><br />Telling Kumar that the government had given a "very bureaucratic answer" to its query, the court said it wanted to know how much will be achieved in the five years this government will be in office.<br /><br />During the last hearing Aug 13, the court had sought the status report on the government's action plan to clean the Ganga along with a roadmap. <br /><br />The court had also sought a report on what the government was doing to clean the river from Gangotri up to Haridwar in the first phase.<br /><br />Justice Thakur observed: "But for nature, it (Ganga) would have been worst. It is nature that is doing a lot of cleaning." <br /><br />The court told the solicitor general if polluting industries needed to be relocated, the court could assist the government with legal process.</p>