Context-The Central government has issued a 15-point directive, including cordoning off ghats and imposing a fine of Rs 50,000, to prevent the immersion of idols in the Ganga or its tributaries during festivals, including Dussehra, Diwali, Chhath and Saraswati Puja.

About

• Issued under Section 5 of The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the directive states:River Bank and Ghats should be Rs 50,000 fine for idol immersion in Ganga, tributaries: Centre to states cordoned off and barricaded to prevent any stray immersion of idols in the river or its banks.
• Adequate arrangements should be made for designated idol-immersion sites within the municipal area or bank of river Ganga and its tributaries by constructing temporary confined ponds with removable synthetic liners at the bottom.”
• All concerned state government, authority, board or corporation should ensure that there is no use of synthetic material/ non-biodegradable material, Plaster of Paris (POP), baked clay, resin fibers and thermocol for making of idols. Besides, the use of toxic and non-biodegradable chemical dyes or synthetic paints for painting of idols should be strictly prohibited.”
• The NMCG has also directed that District Magistrates enforce these directions by ensuring monitoring and enforcement.
• “If any person violates above directions, then Rs 50,000 as environment compensation should be levied, collected and deposited with State Pollution Control Boards.
• In 2014, the central government had launched Namami Gange, a flagship initiative “with a Budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga”. In 2017, the National Green Tribunal banned the disposal of any waste in the Ganga.

National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)

•  was registered as a society on 12th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act 1860.It acted as implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986. NGRBA has since been dissolved with effect from the 7th October 2016, consequent to constitution of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council) .

The Act envisages five tier structure at national, state and district level to take measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the river Ganga as below; 

1. National Ganga Council under chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. 
2. Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga under chairmanship of Hon’ble Union Minister of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation). 
3. National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG). 
4. State Ganga Committees and 
5. District Ganga Committees in every specified district abutting river Ganga and its tributaries in the states. 

•   NMCG has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee. Both of them are headed by Director General, NMCG. Executive Committee has been authorized to accord approval for all projects up to Rs.1000 crore. Similar to structure at national level, State Programme Management Groups (SPMGs) acts as implementing arm of State Ganga Committees. Thus the newly created structure attempts to bring all stakeholders on one platform to take a holistic approach towards the task of Ganga cleaning and rejuvenation. 
•  The Director General(DG) of NMCG is a Additional Secretary in Government of India

CAG report on Namami Gange

• Out of the Rs 198.48 crore sanctioned to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) only Rs 14.77 crore utilized so far.
• Non-implementation in areas like cleaning of the river, installation of sewage treatment plants, and construction of household toilets.
• The government failed to come out with a detailed action plan • In the four key States – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the river conservation zones were not identified.
• Out of the 5,016 checks the CPCB was mandated to conduct on grossly polluting industries between 2011 and 2017, only 3,163 were made so far.
• To monitor the quality of the river in 113 sites along the river, only 36 Automatic Water Quality Monitoring Systems were deployed so far.