Uttarakhand government's order on escape channel risks construction on the banks of river Ganga

Uttarakhand government's recent order declaring escape channel in the river Ganga as null and void has attributed importance to the National Green Tribunal. The native people of Uttarakhand braces for its impact on the constructions on the bank of river Ganga.

Haridwar:Uttarakhand government has declared the escape channel on the stream on Har Ki Pauri in river Ganga as null and void. The escape channel of Ganga was Harish Rawat government's measure to bypass the 2016 order of the National Green Tribunal. Addressing public interest, NGT had issued an order prohibiting any new construction within 200 metres of the Ganga on both the banks.

The legal proceedings for many years on the constructions near river Ganga have witnessed many rifts and overturns. The recent order by the Uttarakhand government invokes intrigue on its impact on buildings, hotels and Dharamshalas or buildings under construction on the bank of Ganga.

Further detailing on the matter, NGT had issued an order prohibiting any new construction within 200 metres of the Ganga on both the banks with a view to maintaining the shape and state of the river Ganga.

Trivendra Singh government, withdrew the order on November 22, 2020, as protests erupted. Now the question is what would be the fate of the NGT order after nullifying the order on escape channel? What would happen to the buildings which have been in existence since last many decades? At present, after the order has been cancelled, the axe of the NGT is likely to fall on the new constructions on the banks of the Ganga.

The main reason behind rescinding the government order on the escape channel is the sentiments of millions of people as well as the Trivendra Singh government’s stance on the Ganga river. TheTeerth Purohits too have been demanding since long to rescind the order.

However, there was speculation that the Uttarakhand government will not rescind the order because hotel Alaknanda (Which the UP government has handed over to the Uttarakhand government) and its adjoining guest house of UP government under construction are situated within 200 metres of the bank of Ganga. If the Trivendra government nullifies the order, the construction work on the guest house would have to be stopped.

Read:Uttarakhand's Song dam gets environmental clearance

Ganga aficionado B D Joshi says that the government order was brought in to bypass the NGT order. Now that the order has been withdrawn, it would be interesting to see if the construction work on the bank of the Ganga is stopped because NGT is firm on its stand. Since the Uttarakhand government has not yet issued a notification, it is not clear what would happen next. But it can be said clearly that no construction will be made along the bank of Ganga.

According to the Chief of Matri Sadan, Swami Shivanand, the government order has been cancelled, making it clear that the order was wrong. All the constructions made against the order of NGT has turned out to be wrong. Therefore, there is a threat to all such constructions. The guest house under construction by the UP government has no justification, he opined.

What is the controversy?

The erstwhile Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, in December 2016 had issued a government order declaring stream flowing from Sarvanand Ghat via Shmashan Ghat Khadkhadi, Har Ki Pouri, Dam Kothi, Satighat Kankhal up to Daksh temple as escape channel. This meant that the Congress government had renamed three kilometres of Ganga before and after Har Ki Pouri as ‘Escape Channel’.

After this, in 2017, Harish Rawat and the Congress faced stunning defeat in the elections. People from Kichcha of Kumaon and the rural constituency of Garwal and Haridwar chose not to vote for him. With the next general elections due in 2022, Harish Rawat tendered apology to the people and assured the people that he would restore the Ganga river to its original glory if he gets back to power. Countering him beforehand, the Trivendra government on November 22, 2020, announced the rescinding of the old government order.

In common man’s parlance, 'escape channel' is the one that joins the main Ganga river with a canal.