NEW DELHI: Concerned with the alarming state of encroachments on the banks of the Ganga River, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and Bihar governments to file status reports on the steps taken to clear illegal constructions on its banks.
A two-judge bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Vishwanathan has directed the governments and concerned public authorities to furnish a report detailing the number of encroachments, how they are to be removed, and when. It has also asked the appellant, Patna-resident Ashok Kumar Sinha to apprise it about the current status of encroachments.
Lawyer Akash Vashishtha, appearing for the appellant, submitted that large-scale illegal and unauthorised constructions and encroachments, such as Housing settlements, brick kilns, and other religious structures, were being built on the floodplains of Ganga in Bihar, which were extremely rich in freshwater dolphins.
“The purity of the Ganga waters is vital for meeting the drinking water needs of Patna because the city’s groundwater is heavily laced with arsenic,” Vashishtha told the Court.
He argued that the concern is that most of the Ganga-basin states are taking a completely arbitrary and unscientific approach to delineating and demarcating the floodplains of Ganga or its tributaries, which is inconsistent with the central statutory provisions under Ganga Authorities Order, 2016, issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The Supreme Court decision came in an appeal arising from an NGT order that disposed of Sinha’s application raising concerns over illegal constructions of colonies, setting up of brick kilns and other structures, including a 1.5-km road by the Bihar government, on the eco-fragile Ganga floodplains.