NGT Orders CBI Probe Into UP Jal Nigam Over Ganga Pollution

The Garh drain discharges around 13 million litres per day (MLD) of effluent into Ganga.

The polluted banks and waters of the river Ganga at Varanasi. (Photo: Reuters)

Reprimanding the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (UPJN) officials for pursuing "incorrect methods" in designing and constructing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), doing no field work and "wasting" public money, the National Green Tribunal on Tuesday ordered a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in cleaning up the river Ganga.

The NGT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar grilled Chief Engineer, General Manager and other officials of UPJN over "gross irregularities" in constructing STPs on Garh near Garhmukteshwar in Hapur district.

The Garh drain is just one of the 30 most polluting drains which discharge their waste into the river Ganga between Haridwar and Kanpur.

The bench while cross-examining the officials found that the STPs for the Garh drain that discharges 13 million litres per day (MLD) of effluent in the river were constructed without prior analysis of the pollution load and effluent types.

There are two STPs over Garh drain — an operational three MLD capacity STP and another six MLD capacity under-construction.

You sit and keep wasting public money... Ganga is not cleaned because of officers like you. They (projects) are being executed without rational basis. Investigation should be referred to CBI for this entire matter.It will not only help us find out the irresponsible manner in which these projects are being carried out, but also ensure proper sustainable development and controlling the pollution in the river Ganga.

Justice Swatanter Kumar, NGT Chairperson

“You sit and keep wasting public money... Ganga is not cleaned because of officers like you,” Kumar said to the UPJN officials.

The Tribunal directed the CBI director to appoint a senior officer for the investigation.

The six MLD STP is being constructed by the UPJN at a site about seven km from the Garh drain near Brijghat. The STP is being connected from the Garh drain through a 67 km long pipeline of which 58 km has already been constructed.

The whole project is worth Rs 31.8 crore, officials informed the Tribunal.