Ganga receives first legal notice after getting human status

Nainital, April 28

After being accorded human status recently, the Ganga River received its first legal notice from the Uttarakhand High Court on Friday asking it to explain why its land was given for construction of a trenching ground.

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The notice was issued by a Division Bench of Justices VK Bisht and Justice Alok Singh on a PIL filed by a Rishikesh resident, Swaroop Singh Pundir.

The PIL said a trenching ground is being constructed in Khadri Khadag village close to the banks of the holy river in gross violation of law.

Pundir claimed that village’s gram panchayat allotted the land to the local civic body without consulting villagers several years ago.

Issuing a notice to the Ganga, Union Government, Central Pollution Control Board, state pollution control board and Rishikesh Municipality, the court directed the respondents to file a reply before May 8, when the case will be heard next.

Officials custodians of the river, including the Chief Secretary, the Advocate-General and the director of the Namami Gange project, will respond to the legal notice on behalf of the river.

The Uttarakhand High Court had earlier this year accorded the status of "living human entities" to the Ganga and Yamuna rivers for their "preservation and conservation".

Bestowing human status on the sacred but highly polluted rivers would, according to the court's order, amount to harming a human being. — PTI