NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday ordered round-the-clock monitoring of effluents discharged by over 700 industries on the banks of Ganga to contain pollution in the holy river. The industries have been asked to put censors to monitor the flow of industrial waste into the river.
The decision was taken in a meeting between Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti and Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar.
“It has been decided to do realtime 24X7 monitoring of effluents discharged by industries along the Ganga using censors. Industries will be asked to put censors to collect realtime data on industrial waste,” said Javadekar adding that the Environment Ministry has already issued closure orders to 48 of 764 industries along the river under Section-5 of Environment Protection Act, 1986.
The Centre has also decided to hold meetings with the representatives of industries on the banks of the river to prevent the flow of industrial waste into the river. Online monitoring of treatment of industrial waste by the industries will also begin within six months. Industries will be encouraged to re-use the treated water.
Revised guidelines on sand mining will also be issued to ensure scientific and sustainable sand mining.
