Holy ganga

       Water Pollution threatens its purity 

Religious and cultural significance of River Gange—Ganga begins at Devprayaag, the confluence of Bhagirathi and Alakhnanda rivers and ends at Bay of Bengal. According to Hindu culture and mythology Bhagirathi is the source of Ganga. Devotees have tremendous faith on Holy River which is worshipped as Goddess Gange maata(Mother). It is considered once you take bath or take a dip in Holy River, you get mokshya. Hence every Hindu wishes to visit the holy places and take bath in Ganga once in life to get mokshya.  My visit to Haridwar, during Kumbha mela in 1998, the huge crowd of pilgrims who came for holy dips in the Ganga and worship, was an amazing experience. Crowd management of the police and volunteer organizations was extremely commendable. Administration effectively supervised efforts of all departments who were responsible in successfully organizing this world famous and huge religious event. Recent tragedy in Prayag Kumbh is the result of total failure in crowd management by the police, administration and lack of coordination between the various departments who were deputed there. I observed, analyzed and came to conclusion devotees trust has to be honored. We realize immense faith of common people on goddess Ganga and lord Shiva is responsible religion to survive. Now there is a considerable demand from all segments of society to save this holy river from water pollution. 

  Besides religious aspect, it is has been a lifeline to the millions of Indians for centuries. They grew food, used water for irrigation, potable water,and extracted materials for housing and even for daily use they were dependent. This process is going on even today. It is the longest river in India and 2^nd greatest river in the world in terms of water discharge. From the historical point of view various imperial and provincial capitals were situated on its bank from the ancient period. Megasthenes was the first European traveler who mentioned about this holy river. Several times he described this in his writings and wrote that there are several rivers which are large and navigable. Fa Hien a Chinese traveler who visited India several times, 300years after the mauryans, admired about the elegant carving and sculptor work about Asoka’s palace and during his regime inhabitants were rich and prosperous in the entire river Gangatic plain and became the centre of successive powerful clans from the Maurya Empire to Mughal empire.

 Human greed has polluted the river to the dangerous level. It not only threatens human survival, but also other species. Ganga River which is the witness to prosperity, richness flourishing and rich traditional values, spiritual glow and smile of inhabitants of north Indians for many generations, is now crying for her own existence. We know, the disappearance of Mohan Zadora and Harappa civilizations, was the result of excessive exploitation of natural resources, resultant, natural disasters buried these civilizations. Are we waiting for such calamities? Situations indicate towards the eminent and inevitable danger, if immediate corrective measures are not taken by the government. There is a mention of Sarswati River in mythological books, if it was true, then disappeared? Obviously, reason is the same. Sustainable development, sustainable biodiversity was not applied by contemporary governments and powerful  inhabitants, as a result disasters buried civilizations not only once but many times.

 Environmentalists have been warning continuously, successive state governments of northern India and central government, about the danger level of water pollution which may ultimately invite devastation but in vain. In order to fulfill intense lifelong desire, the innocent devotees take Ganga Jal with them considering their homes will be purified after spraying holy water, but, they do not know it has lost its purity. What a pity!  We know, the holy river was ranked among the five most polluted rivers of the world in 2oo7, with fecal form levels in the river near Varanasi is more than 100 times. Although the Ganga action plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river was carried on, but on account of corruption, lack of technical expertise and lack of planning, it was a major failure. We are depriving of our future generations from pollution free environment.

  In my opinion, there is no need of outside help for making our rivers clean, it is possible within our reach and resources provided we are sincere and honest to initiate the mission to clean. Municipalities, village panchayats( situated in the catchment areas of large rivers) and the administration must own the responsibility and ensure wastes of any nature whether it is garbage, waste water, dangerous chemicals released by the irresponsible factory owners and human waste is not discharged through sewer line in the holy river. There has to be strict checking mechanism to identify factories those are polluting holy river discharging dangerous chemicals in the river. There should be a provision to impose heavy capital punishment, if hotels, house owners situated near the river side are found guilty in accordance to norms; capital punishment provision has to be there with warning and immediate corrections. We wish illegal constructions near the river side are totally banned and mass plantations has be started to protect soil erosion as well as air/water pollution.  Illegal mining and stone crushing in the river bed should also be disallowed. Accountability of officers should be fixed. It is observed that all concerned organizations are suffering from sincerity and transparency deficit. They must know, we need to be environment friendly, pilgrim friendly and harsh towards norms violators.

  Indian Judiciary has taken excellent and strong decisions with regard to air pollution reduction in Delhi such as introduction of CNG on buses and other public utility vehicles compulsory and removal or shifting of factories from residential areas those were releasing poisonous gases and chemicals in the air, hazardous to public health, in spite of the fact there was stiff resistance from the owners and heavy pressure from political leaders of Delhi irrespective of their party affiliations.  They were delaying to implement court order ultimately court took serious note of non implementation and government was compelled to compliance court order. Here I wish to mention one cabinet minister during NDA government who as governor J&K took many admirable and pilgrim friendly decisions for the convenience of pilgrims and his contribution in order to make Delhi beautiful and pollution free is tremendously commendable. Although, he could not fulfill his dream to make Delhi visible among the best capitals of world, in terms of hygiene, slum free and pollution free. But due to political interference he was shown exit door. Hence there is an intense feel now that People-welfare oriented people are needed in the government. Clean Gange program initiated by environmental activists need support from all sections of the society and Judiciary. Since politicians always talk in terms of money not in terms of work to be accomplished within the time frame. They need to change their attitude, be environment-friendly in order to assist in clean rivers (originating from glaciers) movement initiated by many independent and volunteer groups.

Devender Singh Jangpangi 

Johar Sauka Tribe, Munsiari, Presently Haldwani 

15-02-2013.