Plea in NGT against BJP leader for polluting river

an embarrassment to the government, the NGT has been moved to act against some BJP leaders for making mockery of the Centre’s ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission and Ganga rejuvenation plan.

The allegation is that a woman BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh threw a plastic bottle in the river Saryu, a tributary of the Ganga, in presence of a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

The incident has been narrated by two law students from a private university in Gurgaon before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking initiation of criminal proceedings and imposition of fine on the basis of “polluter pays principle”.

The plea said the negligent act of the two leaders is a “classic example of mockery of Namami Gange project and Swachh Bharat Mission initiated by their own government”.

Swachh Bharat Mission was officially launched on October 2, 2014 and aims universal sanitation and open defecation eradication by 2019, on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The government had in 2016 allocated ~11,300 crore for both rural and urban areas for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The Budget 2016-17 has earmarked ~9,000 crore for rural areas, while ~2,300 crore for the urban areas. The government had announed 0.5 % Swachh Bharat Cess on all taxable services from November 15, 2015.

Under the “Namami Gange” programme, the Centre has a budget outlay of ~20,000 crore for the next five years which aims to clean and protect the river Ganga.