The Hindu : Ganga pollution should be made a poll issue: experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Ganga pollution should be made a poll issue: experts

VARANASI, MARCH 17. Even though the holy river Ganga is regarded as the lifeline for crores of people, the pollution in the holy river has never been made a poll issue, feel experts.

The Director of Research Foundation of Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi and a well-known activist Vandana Shiva said here that the politicians were not at all serious on the issue of Ganga pollution despite the Gangetic belt sending maximum members to the parliament.

She said it was unfortunate that many irrelevant issues were being used on the poll plank but the pollution in Ganga was never highlighted despite it being the main source of natural and mineral resources and forming the vital Indo-Gangetic plain in the country.

Ms. Shiva alleged that the Centre had spent several thousands of crores on the Ganga Action Plan but there were no signs of improvement. She further alleged that the government was moving towards the privatisation of water of the Indian rivers through mega projects by connecting the rivers "under pressure from WB and MNCs".

According to records available, during the period of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, a Swiss newspaper published a report which defined the Ganga as the fourth most polluted river in the world. Later, Mr. Gandhi called for cleaning of Ganga and set up the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) which ultimately started on June 14, 1986 at Rajendra Prasad Ghat in Varanasi but it is yet to serve the purpose.

Recently, the Society for Social Action and Research (SAR), an NGO, said in its report that a regular dip in Ganga could lead to several water-borne diseases. However, Ganga water is still considered holy by the Hindus and is used in religious ceremonies and is deemed to provide `punya' (virtue).

Incidentally, the former Prime Ministers, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (Phoolpur), Lal Bahadur Shashtri (Allahabad), Indira Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Choudhary Charan Singh (Bagpat), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Fatehpur) and Chandrashekhar (Ballia) were elected MPs of the Gangtic plain and were hailed as the `Gangaputras' (sons of Ganga) but the river still reels under alarming hazards of pollution.

The journey of the river from Gomukh to Gangasagar stretching over 2,525 km is known by about 120 different names including Bhagirathi, Hugli and Padma and passes through over five dozen districts from where the maximum MPs reach the Upper House of Indian Parliament.

Anshul Shrikunj, president of Hardwar Based NGO, Bharat Jagrit Mission trust accused the Centre and the Delhi government of giving a contract to a French company `Swege Degromont' to drain 6,350 lakh litres of water daily from Ganga and sell it in New Delhi to clean toilets.

The retired Professor of Banaras Hindu University, Veer Bhadra Mishra, who represented the country in "Earth Summit" at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said that from 1986 to 1993, the Ganga Action Plan in its first phase spent over Rs. 500 crore. He said the GAP has set up a sewage treatment plant spending Rs. 50 crores at Dinapur, Varanasi to treat sewage but for years the equipment did not function properly.

"With the limited power supply such plants virtually lie defunct," he added. -- UNI

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