Set up expert panel on construction of new ghats at Varanasi: HC

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court today directed the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute an expert committee to look into the feasibility of proposed construction of four new ghats along the river Ganges in Varanasi.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Dilip Gupta passed the order on an application moved by the state government wherein a modification had been sought in a court order of July 27, 2012, prohibiting all construction activities within 200 metres of the river Ganga, across UP.

Fixing October 21 as the next date of hearing, the court ordered that the expert committee's report be made available by then.

The court also asked the Centre and other authorities entrusted with the task of keeping the river pollution-free to file their counter affidavits.

Held sacred by millions of Hindus across the globe, the Ganga was declared as the National River by the Government of India in 2009.

Significantly, upon his election recently from Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged to make the riverfront clean by 2019, when the country celebrates 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.