File report on power plants on Ganga or pay fine: NGT to CPCB

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal today directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to inspect sites where thermal power plants were discharging effluents in the Ganga basin in a week or pay Rs one lakh as fine.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the counsel for the CPCB to physically examine the sites where thermal power plants are located in the first phase of Ganga (Gomukh to Haridwar), and submit the report by November 20 or pay a fine of Rs one lakh.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by NGO Indian Council for Enviro Legal Action seeking regulation of thermal power plants located in the Ganga river basin.

The plea has also sought directions to ensure that fly ash is not released into the Ganga river or its tributaries.

The plea has also alleged that there were over 25-year old power plants, which were not technologically advanced and were polluting the river.