Ganga or Yamuna, they are badly polluted due to the authorities’ complacence

SUNIL NEGI

Our rivers our our mothers as they not only provide us water to drink, keep us clean, wash our dirty clothes and sustain our lives but are also the greatest source of irrigation that give us food to survive. But unfortunately the incrasing industrialisation and our lust for materialism have made our mother i.e. the rivers badly polluted and toxic having no relevence for being the holy rivers, as mentioned in our sacred Upnishads and Vedas.

The way major rivers of the country like, the Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, Brahmaputra and other rivers and their tributaries are being polluted, raped and murdered such instances and examples have never ever been witnessed in the the context of the rivers of the foreign countries.Sounds shocking, highly worrisome and disturbing that in the land of abode of Gods like Uttarakhand and the entire country, Ganga being worshipped as the Goddess by billions of the devotees globally, this very river is the most polluted one today with Yamuna too following suit thus inviting the attention of the honourable courts of the country and the National Green tribunal.

Whole world knows that hundreds of thousands of crores have been allocaed for the cleanliness of the Ganga and the Yamuna by the world bank and the Government of India since the last two decades but of no avail. The present government of the BJP led government at the centre led by Narendra Modi has already allotted/ sanctioned 4000 crores and even more for the upside down cleanliness of the Ganges by announcing a separate ministry of Ganga rejuvenation giving 2019 as the final deadline to do the needful though everybody know that its a mere slogan to entice votes in the name of the blind trust of God fearing Indians who would always vote for MAA GANGA MAYYA even if it is not cleaned.

Lets see what happens till 2019 as the minister concerned who was really too serious on this count, the saffron clad Uma Bharati has been shunted out. Lot of talks are being done by the honourable courts to clean the pious Ganga and the Yamuna but have the concerned authorities like ministry of environment and the pollution control bard ever taken any initiative to close or cancel the licences of hundreds of tanneries and factories releasing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of toxic chemicals and waste into the pious Ganges and Yamuna.

Have the governments of various states and centre ever thought of curbing the incessant practice of immersion of lakhs of Durga and Ganesh idols in various seas of the country. Have the pollution Control Board of India ever stopped them or applied checks on these pro pollution activities. Why is that that ultimately that ultimately the apex court has to intervene and then too things do not reach to its logical conclusion of setting things into right perspective.

The citizens of the country shouldn’t forget that the rivers are the lifeline of the cities and the country. The countrymen should ensure that our religious rites do not clash with our ecological obligations. We will have to be entirely responsible to maintain and protecting our ecology while pursuing our religious faiths and duties.