Severe punishment if you mess with Ganga river : jail with fine !

Robbery, cheating, causing grievous hurt and attempt to commit culpable homicide are all punishable by up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to Rs. 100 crore. Now add one more crime to that list that may soon attract such a stringent punishment: messing with Ganga.

A Centre-appointed panel has drafted a bill, the National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill 2017, which if passed into a law will also prescribe seven years in jail and a fine of up to Rs. 100 crore for anyone who commits a range of offences on the river, including blocking its flow, quarrying its banks or constructing jetties without permission.

The Uttarakhand High Court recently declared the river a "living entity," and the panel's bill makes it emphatically clear that troubling it can be a costly affair, if converted into the country's first ever act on a river.

Among others, the panel led by retired Justice Giridhar Malaviya, has also suggested declaring an area abutting within 1 kilometre from Ganga and its major tributaries as a "water saving zone".

The panel though has suggested that such zones may be defined after conducting scientific studies within six months after the bill is enacted.

The government has forwarded the draft, submitted to the water resources ministry in April, to another experts' committee to seek their suggestions on the bill, which will be further discussed with the basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar before the final draft is out.

Some of the major punishments for various offences recommended by the panel are:

Stone quarrying, crushing, cutting, finishing or processing sand mining illegally in bed/on banks of Ganga/its tributaries: Simple imprisonment up to five years or with fine which may extend up to Rs 50,000 or both.

In case the contravention continues, an additional fine extending up to Rs 20,000 per day. Offender concerned shall be punishable with imprisonment for the term which may extend up to seven years in case the failure continues for a year after a conviction.

Causing discontinuity in flow of water in Ganga/ tributaries without permission from competent authority: Offender shall be liable to imprisonment up to two years and monetary fine which may extend to Rs 100 crore.