New Delhi: The Supreme Court on July 21 issued notices to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government on a public interest petition pointing out the urgent need for cleaning up the 80-odd bathing ghats on the banks of river Ganga visited by thousands every day in the holy city of Varanasi.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare and Justice S B Sinha, after issuing notice on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Ashok Kumar Thakur, tagged it along with other pending matters pertaining to cleaning of the river Ganga.

Thakur, in a well-researched petition, said even the most important ghats - Dasaswamedh, Barnasangam, Panchganjal, Manikarnika and Charanpaduka - ghats were in disarray due to total apathy of the administration towards their upkeep.

Accusing the government of achieving very little under the Rs 1,700 crore Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in terms of cleaning the river, the petitioner stated that about 80 per cent of the untreated sewage still found its way into the river.

He alleged that the water treatment plants built under the Rs 800 crore GAP-PhaseI had made no difference to the situation and the situation in Varanasi was worse than that at Kanpur.

Thakur said, "the valuable and rich heritage and our composite culture and holy Ganga and its natural environment, with number of ghats since time immemorial, are required to be preserved and protected in public interest."

PTI