NAINITAL | Dec 07, 2016: Uttarakhand high court has directed the Union government to constitute a Ganga Management Board for better management of the river, and to make it functional within a period of three months. In an order delivered on Monday, the HC directed the central government to also induct Uttarakhand as member of the Upper Yamuna Board within three months.

The order by the division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh came as part of a set of mandatory directions issued by the HC while hearing a PIL pertaining to encroachment of land near the Ganga river bed at Shakti Nahar in Vikas Nagar on the outskirts of Dehradun. The PIL also mentioned disputes with neighbouring Uttar Pradesh (UP) regarding land adjoining the river pointing out that areas like the VIP ghat in Haridwar and other canals like Shakti Nahar in Dehradun district as well as Begual Dam, Nanak Sagar Dam and Banbasa Barrage in Udham Singh Nagar district, were still under the control of UP.

The petitioner had requested the court to direct the central government to issue appropriate directions regarding disbursement of the land and water resources between the successor states to stop encroachment over the government land.

In the order which is dated December 5, the judges directed that the two private parties which were occupying the land near the river bed at Shakti Nahar be evacuated from the government land “within a period of twelve weeks from today.” The court also ordered the central government to “take a final decision on the basis of the settlement arrived at between the state of Uttar Pradesh and the state of Uttarakhand, regarding the division of assets/properties on 02.02.2016, within a period of three months from today.”

Expressing concern at the mining activities going on near the river, an issue on which it had commented earlier, too, the HC ordered, “The mining in river bed of Ganga and its highest flood plain area is banned forthwith. The district magistrate and sub-divisional magistrate shall be personally responsible to implement this direction.”

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)

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