CASE STUDY OF GANGA POLLUTION

Authors – Andey Bharathi, Anya Nitin Parikh, Bhimanapati Deepthi & Ch Meher Manogya Lakshmi, Students of Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad.

Best Citation – Andey Bharathi, Anya Nitin Parikh, Bhimanapati Deepthi & Ch Meher Manogya Lakshmi, CASE STUDY OF GANGA POLLUTION, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL RESEARCH JOURNAL, 1 (1) of 2023, Pg. 27, ISBN – 978-81-960677-0-0.

ABSTRACT

The River Ganga is considered as a river of worship, devotion, faith, and is also the national river of India flowing through various states in the country. Though the river is considered to be the most sacred river in the country,  it is extremely polluted owing to untreated sewage water, and industrial effluents caused by rapid industrialization and growth in the Ganga basin. The dependency of the surrounding population has increased drastically and ‘wastes’ dumped directly into the water have ruined the quality of the river, as the rate at which the river is being polluted is much higher than its ability to heal itself.

Due to the intensity of pollution, the Government was forced to step in and take initiatives to better the quality of the water such as the Ganga  Action Plan I and II, Namami Gange, and others. Further, the judiciary has also made an attempt to provide judgments that would hinder the unethical practices which have polluted the river over the years. However, these actions from both the legislature and the judiciary have not been efficient in cleaning up and restoring Ganga to its original state. This paper, therefore, tries to provide a legal understanding of the policies, cases, and other government actions taken as well as provide recommendations to the policy that can create a positive impact on the current situation of the river considering the pandemic, using an empirical study conducted with students of law as the population. 

Keywords: Ganga/Water Pollution, Ganga Action Plan, NGT Tribunal, Water Quality Index.