Updated report of the Oversight Committee on pollution caused to Kosi river in Rampur district by polluting industrial activities. River Bhella in Moradabad is a tributary of Kosi river in Rampur which is a tributary of Ramganga which in turn is a tributary of river Ganga. Though pollution is caused in these rivers by industries situated both in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Oversight Committee considered the units situated only in Uttar Pradesh because there is a separate Oversight Committee for Uttarakhand.

As per the report of Centre for Science and Environment titled ‘Ganga: The River, Its pollution and what we can do to clean It’, it was reported that the total length of the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh is about 1,000 km. Around 687 grossly polluting industries in Uttar Pradesh are located near river Ganga discharging 270 of MLD wastewater.

The report cited new articles from Down to Earth "Grossly polluting industries more than doubled in 8 years: SOE in figures" by Kiran Pandey and another by Kiran Pandey, Rajit Sengupta and Isha Bajpai "42 rivers have extremely high concentration of neurotoxic heavy metals”.

The Oversight Committee in its report noted that units like Rana Sugars, Swati Methanol, Varun Steels and Damya PJ Foods Pvt Ltd. were abstracting groundwater without State Ground Water Authority (SGWA) permission.

The Committee recommended that a detailed groundwater study be done by SGWA as the case may be and any permission to abstract groundwater be incumbent on the result of the study. Further, these units should be directed to minimise their water consumption based on water audit studies. Also they may be asked to explore the possibility of using treated water/ water harvesting /recycling techniques. Water tariffs for ground water as per rules/guidelines be communicated and charges levied immediately. Pending EC on these units be realised by UPPCB immediately, the report recommended.

Note: The Oversight Committee report of January 27, 2021 was uploaded to the NGT site on March 16, 2021