NGT directs officials to expedite demarcation of Ganga's floodplain in UP

The National Green Tribunal has directed the authorities concerned to expedite the demarcation of floodplain zones of the Ganga and the Ram Ganga in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district. The green panel was hearing a plea alleging a state-owned company in the energy sector is carrying out illegal construction in the rivers' floodplains in the Milak Kharakpur Baaje village of the district's Munda Pandey block. A tributary of the Ganga, the Ram Ganga originates in Uttarakhand and enters Uttar Pradesh in Bijnor district. In February, a report by the Moradabad district magistrate and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board said a pipeline was being constructed by GAIL. A bench of National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said in pursuance of the tribunal's earlier directions, the district magistrate filed another report, saying Rs 1.12 crore had been paid to the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) in Roorkee for demarcation of the floodplain. According to the N