Vidya Bhushan Rawat |
| Blog | Posted By: hindtodaynews on:6/20/2012 12:23:53 PM |
The government of India has promised to take action to save Ganga on the call of a large number of Saints who assembled at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Ganga is India’s culture and spiritual heritage; they said and warned the government against its continuous assault on the river in the forms of various power projects as well as industrial waste being flown into the river in the big cities. They however, had little for the people who follow rituals and make it dirtier by washing their sins in the river who they call ‘Ma’. You do not spit on your mother and rinse your mouth there. Hence, we need to be forthright and will have to leave a large part of our hypocrite values which have killed a river we fondly call ‘ma’. The government on its part is saying that it is serious on Ganga Action plan and results are positive. The saints want the power projects in Uttarakhand be stopped immediately. It is unfortunate that some of the advisors of the government continue to guide that we should further explore Ganga for the benefit of the money. How anybody’s human rights guaranteed if the river is no more. The government in 2010 had scrapped hydel projects Pala Maneri (480 MW), Bhaironghait (381 Mw) and Lohari Nagpala (600MW) projects but refused similar action for other projects.
There is no doubt that Ganga has tremendous spiritual religious value which influenced our in not just our mythologies but our socio cultural lives particularly those who have lived nearby. It is a river who people worship and value immensely. The last desire of human being of the region is to be cremated at the bank of Ganges so that their sins are washed away. It is important to understand the words of Rajendra Singh, famous water rights activist that Ganga, the national river, is our cultural heritage, and it should be preserved at all cost to save the lives of millions of people living in its basin.
If spiritualism is kept aside, Ganga is a beautiful river and attracts visitors immensely. Anyone, who has seen those beautiful locations, can vouch tremendous satisfaction sitting on the Ganges or walking on the sand. The Mahaarti of Ganga is equally attractive and millions of pilgrims visit Varanasi and Hardwar to see how people worship river more than their mothers. It is time when saving Ganga become a national commitment to preserve our rivers, forests and mountains.
Unfortunately, in the past one decade, since the separate state of Uttarakhand was carved out, the respective governments felt that Ganga should be used to maximize the profits of the state. The bureaucracy was determined that Uttarakhand be declared as a energy surplus with such a large number of water resources and forest covers. As a person who grew up in the beautiful mountainous region, it pains me to see the naked hill tops and polluted rivers. The cemented constructions all over hurt your eyes more when you remember your childhood being played in lush green land and enough water falls around you. It shows that the greed of state has increased. While the people still suffer yet the politicians flourish at the cost of our environment and river. It is disgusting to see how the real estate agents and hoteliers have taken over the lake view of Nainital thus completely violating the environmental laws of the country. No action is taken against them unless someone remind the state of this violation at the cost of their own lives our politicians and administrators remain mute. Uttarakhand is one of India’s most naturally gifted states and yet it is being violated so regressively by the real estate mafias that we need a movement to save the serenity of the state and protect its wild life, nature and culture.
Everywhere, the real estate mafias have held the state for ransom in collusion with the power elite. All the beautiful valleys and hills have been occupied by these property agents and land prices have soared high. All our water resources, forest resources and land has been under occupation of the encroachers completely circumventing the laws of the land.
While in the hills, the Ganga still remains pure, it is actually contaminated once it starts flowing in the plains. In Rishikesh and Hardwar, it is not much the industrial pollution that hurt Ganga but the ‘spiritual’ pollution that kept flowing in the form of rituals, burning of dead bodies on the bank as well as flow of sewage lines. But the real pollution in Ganga starts from Hardwar onward and reach its zenith at Kanpur and then Varanasi. Kanpur is the biggest city of Uttar-Pradesh and famous for leather work. The entire city is in complete mess as industrial pollution has just killed this city famous for its leather work. Today, if you pass through the Rania Industrial area, it would be difficult to find a place and sit. The hand pump water is completely polluted, the trees are dying and there is no greenery in the region. You go to any part of Kanpur and try to drink water from a common hand pumps, the complaints of arsenic in water are frequent.
At Varanasi again, the Ganges has the highest level of pollution. And it is not just Industrial pollution but ‘spiritual’ too. Dead bodies are flown and that apart all the religious activities take place at the Ganges.
However, there are several important point to discuss related to Ganga. One, Ganga is not just Hindu concern or a Brahmin concern because some people have to fulfill their rituals. Ganga is India’s fertility and one of our biggest rivers. Over 70 Hydro Electrical Projects are planned in Uttarakhand which will virtually kill the entire river on the Alakananda-Bhagirathi basin. The beautiful and breathtaking valley is dying because of the absolutely unplanned cemented structure of the region. Uttarakhand does not have enough potable water to supply to its people. The electricity situation in the state is not good. Already, the dam at Tehri has destroyed a historical city and according to environmentalists, it is in seismological dangerous zone and any catastrophe would not just be dangerous for the state but for the plains of Uttar-Pradesh including National Capital region also.
Therefore the government needs to stop rape of Ganges further for its commercial greed. It needs to protect Uttarakhand, its beautiful landscape and its culture which revolves around Ganga a lot. If the construction of dams are not stopped then Ganga would be a thing of past and we will see how an entire civilization is destroyed. Our officials and bureaucrats do not understand what does the killing of a civilization mean but it would mean death of Uttarakhand as a state where people go to find peace and tranquility.
It is shameful that the 70 Hydro Electrical Projects in Uttarakhand have resulted in loss of about 7127 hectare of land. The total river length affected by all 70 projects is 655512 m. This means that the overall river length that would be affected will get reduced from 655512 m to 410940 m, which is 37.31% reduction. It is important for the government to stop further commissioning of the projects otherwise it would be not just be killing an entire civilization of Uttarakhand but responsible for the complete annihilation of biodiversity in the region.
Second point is the industrial pollution which is being poured in it in the industrial cities. It is a clear violation of pollution laws and government need strict action on the same in cities like Kanpur, Varanasi and Patna.
Third, it is also important to notice that a large part of pollution in Ganga is ‘religious’ dogmas. Though, there is an attempt to spread misinformation about it so that ‘religious’ sentiments are not hurt, that the major pollution is of industrial waste and does not need to stop the religious pollution. We should not undermine how people have killed Ganga. How Hippocratic are we when we claim to respect our rivers, treat her as our maa and then rinse at her. It is time we stop polluting Ganga through our religious rituals.
Ganga is not just our mother. It is fascination of a poet and imagination of a singer. It has created an entire civilization which has cultivated India. Its basin is the most fertile region of India responsible for the food self reliance of our country. It is our emotion and our heritage. No heritage of India build on sand stones and artificial marbles is as bigger and respectable as Ganges is and therefore people of India owe a lot to Ganga. Let us resolve to protect our river. It is time that a common man takes the pledge to protect Ganga. Let it not become the issue of those who spread hatred and differences. Ganga is calling everyone to protect her honor and civilization and time has come for all of us to return her love and affection.
( The writer is a full time Human Rights Activist )