Royal sand bath in waterless Yamuna

Scores of Yamuna river activists on Friday evening, on the festive occasion of Ganga Dussehra, took a ritualistic bath, not with water but with dry and hot sand to highlight the grave condition of one of the holiest rivers of India.

The 'Royal Sand Bath', as the members of the River Connect Campaign called it, attracted a large crowd of angry citizens who lashed out at the governments, both in the state and at the Centre.

Environmentalist Devashish Bhattacharya said, "Even today more than 60 drains in the municipal limits are openly discharging sewer, domestic waste and toxic industrial effluents. The river has no water and heaps of garbage dumps are ubiquitously visible. Such callous negligence by powers that be is proving detrimental to the health of humans."

Pandit Jugal Kishore, organiser of the 'sand bath', said, "We wanted to highlight the alarming situation. For the past 10 years, our River Connect Campaign has been demanding construction of a barrage downstream of the Taj Mahal, desalting and dredging of the river bed, but sadly nothing has been done."

Harendra Gupta, surgeon and activist, said he is totally disillusioned.

"We are helpless and desperate. Therefore, we have no other choice but to use sand for taking the holy bath today. River Ganges appeared on earth on Ganga Dussehra. Hindus worship their rivers as goddesses, but see the pathetic condition of our rivers," he said.

The river activists said that the much-flaunted River Front Development project announced by the state government will have no meaning till there is water in the river.