Polluted Ganga not an issue in UP poll
In the hurly-burly of the high decibel campaign in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections, where the only thing the contestants and political outfits seem concerned about is caste, the biggest casualty appears to be the highly polluted Ganges.
Though the river, the lifeline of UP, passes through as many as 76 Assembly constituencies of the state in over a dozen districts, it has so far not found mention in the speeches of the leaders of the major stake holders. “It is really very unfortunate…Ganga, that supports the lives of millions of people in the state, has been neglected by the politicians,” says Prof B D Tripathi, a well–known environmentalist and expert with the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
Tripathi, who is the founder–coordinator of Centre for Environmental Science & Technology at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), says that “Ganga should have been a common issue for all the political parties.”
“Ganga is not a Hindu or Muslim issue…the river is for all…without it, millions who depend on it may not live, yet, no one seems to bother about its condition,” Tripathi told Deccan Herald from Varanasi.
Ganga Seva Mission Convener Swami Anand Swaroop Sarswati, who has also been fighting a battle for saving the river, says that the people should force the politicians to make the river pollution–free by voting against them.
Firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti had in June last year launched a “Save Ganga Campaign” at Garh Mukteshwar in the Ghaziabad district and vowed to take up the issue but it seems to have got lost in the politics of caste.
Meanwhile the Ganga continues to be highly polluted despite all the plans. “There has been no change in the pollution level in the Ganga…there has been no improvement,” says Tripathi. He blames the rising population and declining flow of water in the river due to the increasing pollution in the river.
“Approximately 287 million litres of sewage flows into the Ganga in Allahabad alone…400 million litres of sewage falls in the river in Kanpur and 300 million litres go into it in Varanasi,” says Arun Gupta, a prominent Allahabad based lawyer, who has been involved in fighting for the river in the courts.
Both Tripathi and Gupta are concerned about the high amount of extraction of water from the river for drinking and irrigation purposes. In fact Gupta was instrumental in getting the High Court to pass an order that water must not be drawn over 50 per cent.
The experts feel that the unless the people take up this issue like they took up “corruption”, the politicians will not pay any attention towards it and the river would die one day.
