Ganga mission seeks two weeks’ time to submit water quality data to NGT

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has requested two weeks’ time from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to place on record comparative water quality figures for various stretches of the Ganga since the mission’s inception.

The request came during the hearing of the case, which the NGT had registered suo motu last year, after reports flagged an extremely slow pace of expenditure in projects under the Namami Gange programme.

Appearing for the NMCG, counsel sought two weeks’ time to place on record “relative figures of water analysis indicating the improvement in water quality at different stretches of river Ganga after the constitution of the NMCG”.

The Bench, comprising Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Dr A Senthil Vel, accepted the request and scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 10.

The case concerns the sluggish execution of river-cleaning projects, particularly sewage treatment and infrastructure works, being undertaken in several states under the flagship Namami Gange mission.

The Tribunal had earlier noted that since 2015, projects worth nearly Rs 37,550 crore were sanctioned, but only Rs 18,033 crore had been spent as of June 2024, with a significant portion going towards sewage-related projects.

Delhi