A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in Patna High Court on Thursday to stop pollution in the Ganga.
High court advocate Manibhushan Pratap Sengar filed the PIL in the court of chief justice Rajendra Menon. In his petition, Sengar requested the court to take immediate steps to stop pollution of the holy river in Bihar, especially in Patna.
He stated in his plea that almost 174 drains in Patna fall into the Ganga between Civil Court and Digha, making the central and the state government move to clean up the river completely futile. The PIL says that the drains carry dust, waste and filth which fall directly into the Ganga without the contaminated water receiving any treatment. This has polluted the river so much that it is even unsuitable for bathing purpose.
Sengar has stated that almost all 86 ghats in the city are filthy and most of them are encroached upon, making the government's clean-Ganga mission a complete failure.
The ministry of water resources (river development and Ganga rejuvenation); Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi; Central Water Commission, New Delhi; director-general, Namami Gange Authority; chief secretary, Bihar; and Patna district magistrate and commissioner have been made respondents to the PIL.
In 2015, a bench of then chief justice L. Narasimha Reddy had directed the state to correct the course of the Ganga and stop its stream by restoring its original coast by digging a 60ft-wide channel along the riverside from the Civil Court ghat to Digha ghat in Patna so that the river flows through the channel.
After initial developments the work on it stopped.
The high court order to remove encroachment from the Ganga ghats have not been complied with either. The high court had also ordered regular desilting of the Ganga.
The orders were passed as the court had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written by the district and sessions judge, Patna, in which he had highlighted the Ganga's plight.
The judge had pointed out that recently the river, which used to flow by the side of the court premises, had shifted its course and instead of "sacred" water, dirty water has started flowing.
The bench even expressed surprise when told that a few people were claiming the title of the riverbed land. The claims by a few residents that the land belonged to them was even cited by the state government its reply filed in court earlier as the government had said they are facing problems in reclamation of land for digging the channel, as residents said the land belonged to them.
A few people had protested construction of the new channel to bring the river nearer to the city.
A PIL in Patna High Court was filed in this regard demanding that either the alignment of the new channel be shifted further north of the under-construction four-lane Ganga Path (popularly known as the Ganga driveway) or they be paid compensation in lieu of acquisition of their land in case the channel is constructed on the existing alignment.
The court had passed an order directing the encroachers to approach the Patna district magistrate with their land title claim.
In the last two decades, the Ganga has shifted by about 2-3 kilometres. Illegal sand mining and brick kilns are said to be reasons behind the northward shift of the river.
