(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires,
(a) Act means the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986);
(b) Basin means the entire catchment of a water body or water course including the soil, water, vegetation and other natural resources in the area and includes land, water, vegetation and other natural resources on a catchment basis;
(c) Buffer Area means an area which extends beyond the flood plain of a stream;
(d) catchment or catchment area includes the entire land area whose runoff from rain, snow or ice drains into a water body or a water course, before the water course joins River Ganga or its tributaries or discharges water into River Ganga or its tributaries;
(e) commercial fishing means large scale fishing for commercial purposes by nets, poisoning, or other modern fishing gear or methods in River Ganga or its tributaries;
(f) Competent authority means Central Government
(g) deforestation means removal or reduction of forest cover, especially when caused by anthropogenic activities or removal of trees and other vegetation of a forest excluding a planned clearance for scientific management of forest in particular in the catchment area of River Ganga;
(h) degraded forest means a forest having loss or reduction of native forest cover or vegetation density in the catchment area abutting River Ganga or its tributaries;
(i) direction shall mean direction issued under section 5 of the Act and the expression direct shall be construed accordingly;
(j) District Ganga Committee means the District Ganga Protection Committee mentioned in paragraph 53;
(k) engineered diversion means a structure or device constructed or installed to transfer the water of River Ganga or its tributaries into canals or other engineering structures;
(l) flood plain means such area of River Ganga or its tributaries which comes under water on either side of it due to floods corresponding to its greatest flow or with a flood of frequency once in hundred years;
(m) Ghat means sloping part at Bank of River Ganga or its tributaries with artificially constructed steps or sloping piece of land used for providing easy human access to water of River Ganga or its tributaries and includes usage of such parts for religious or other related purposes;
(n) local authority includes Panchayati raj institutions, municipalities, a district board, cantonment board, town planning authority or Zila Parishad or any other body or authority, by whatever name called, for the time being invested by law, for rendering essential services or with the control and management of civic services, within a specified local area;
(o) National Mission for Clean Ganga means the authority mentioned in paragraph 31.
(p) notification means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the expression notifying shall be construed accordingly;
(q) offensive matter consists of solid waste which includes animal carcasses, kitchen or stable refuse, dung, dirt, putrid or putrefying substances and filth of any kind which is not included in the sewage;
(r) person include
(i) an individual or group or association of individuals whether incorporated or not;
(ii) a company established under the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013);
(iii) any corporation established by or under any Central or State Act;
(iv) a local authority;
(v) every juridical person not falling within any of the preceding sub-clauses;
(s) River Bed means the dried portion of the area of River Ganga or its tributaries and includes the place where the River Ganga or its tributaries run its course when it fills with water and includes the land by the side of River Ganga or its tributaries which retains the water in its natural channel, when there is the greatest flow of water;
(t) River Bed Farming includes seasonal agriculture or farming on the River Bed of River Ganga or its tributaries during low flows of water;
(u) River Ganga means the entire length of six head-streams in the State of Uttarakhand namely, Rivers Alakananda, Dhauli Ganga, Nandakini, Pinder, Mandakini and Bhagirathi starting from their originating glaciers up to their respective confluences at Vishnu Prayag, Nand Prayag, Karn Prayag, Rudra Prayag, and Dev Prayag as also the main stem of the river thereafter up to Ganga Sagar including Prayag Raj and includes all its tributaries;
(v) rubbish means ashes, broken brick, mortar, broken glass, dust or refuse of any kind and includes filth;
(w) sand mining means large scale removal of river sand from the dried channel belt, flood plain or a part of River Ganga or its tributaries;
(x) sewage effluent means effluent from any sewerage system or sewage disposal works and includes sewage from open drains;
(y) sewerage scheme means any scheme which a local authority may introduce for removal of sewage by flushing with water through underground closed sewers;
(z) Schedule means Schedule appended to this Order;
(za) specified District means an area of every District abutting the River Ganga, being within a radius of fifteen kilometers of the Ganga River Bank or its tributaries in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal and the National Capital Territory of Delhi and such other States, having major tributaries of the River Ganga as referred to in this Order;
(zb) State Ganga Committee means the State Ganga Rejuvenation, Protection and Management Committee constituted under this Order for each of the States mentioned in paragraph 2.
(zc) State Ganga River Conservation Authority means an authority earlier constituted in each State under the Act as follows, namely:
(i) the Bihar State Ganga River Conservation Authority constituted by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests number S.O. 287(E), dated 8th February 2010;
(ii) the Jharkhand State Ganga River Conservation Authority constituted by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests number S.O. 2495(E), dated 30th September 2009;
(iii) the Uttarakhand State Ganga River Conservation Authority constituted by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests number S.O. 1111(E), dated 30th September 2009;
(iv) the Uttar Pradesh State Ganga River Conservation Authority constituted by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests number S.O. 2493(E), dated 30th September 2009; and
(v) the West Bengal State Ganga River Conservation Authority constituted by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests number S.O. 2494(E), dated 30th September 2009.
(zd) stream includes river, water course (whether flowing or for the time being dry), inland water (whether natural or artificial) and sub-terrain waters;
(ze) tributaries of River Ganga means those rivers or streams which flow into River Ganga and includes Yamuna River, Son River, Mahananda River, Kosi River, Gandak River, Ghaghara River and Mahakali River and their tributaries or such other rivers which National Council for Rejuvenation Protection and Management of River Ganga may, by notification, specify for the purposes of this Order.
2. The words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.