The National Green Tribunal has directed that there will be a complete ban on use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along Ganga with effect from February 1. The NGT is also slapping a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamshalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river. The Tribunal passed a slew of directions to keep the river pollution free.

The green panel divided the cleaning work of Ganga into different segments. ie Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.

Besides the plastic ban, the Tribunal also prohibited throwing of any municipal waste, construction and demolition wastes into Ganga and its tributaries while announcing that violators will have to pay an environmental compensation at the rate of Rs 5,000 per incident.

The Tribunal, which did not pass any order with regard to nine hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court, said that all the projects would build their own sewage treatment plants (STPs) and make them operational within three months.

The green bench further held that all the seriously polluting industries which are operating without consent from Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board shall be closed with immediate effect.