| Biswo |
Posted
on 22-Jan-01 04:52 PM
It is not only our sacred Bagmati river that has been polluted
and desecrated,Ganges river, where millions of devotees dipped
this month, is also in questionable condition.
In the ongoing great Maha Kumbha Mela, estimated thirty millions devotees will take bath there over a period of fourty two days. The dip there are not as assuring as our grandfathers enjoyed
in the mountain of Nepal: without fear, without having to close
nostrils and tightlip mouths. For the betterment of their health,
educated devotees have to take bath there with extra care. The
Sankar Mochan Foundation in Veranasi ,in its test of fecal
coliform of Ganges,found that the levels of the microorganisms
were far above than what would be considered safe for bathing or
drinking.
Ganges banks are home of one tenth of world population, and
untreated raw sewage enters the river freely. In the post
liberation India, several tanneries, chemical plants, textile
mills, distilleries and slaughter houses has been established
along the bank of Ganges, and they discharge untreated wastewater
through a myriad of open drains and canals.
According to pioneer Indian environmentalist MC Mehta and
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide(E-LAW), the dip in Ganges
is tantamount to a dip in raw sewage, and would risk getting
infectious diseases such as dysentry, cholera and hepatitis.
Mehta and ELAW are filing a public interest petition in Supreme
court to abort the much derided GAP(Ganges Action Plan), and to
initiate some reasonable actions for the cleansing of Ganges.
Well, in Nepal, we need to do the same. It is probably a lot
cheaper for us to clean Bagmati in comparison to what would
cost for the government of India to clean Ganges.
(News source: ENS)
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 23-Jan-01 12:53 PM
Rajendraji:
Not much,actually.
Though I have read some articles in Kantipur by engineer
Hutaram Baidhya and some others about it.
Certainly, the surge in interest has been realised recently,
when Pashupati region development trust started focussing in the
river pollution. Though industrial Bindo Chaudhary reduced the
value of his own proposal by trying to add a rider (That sad
proposal to change the name of Arya Ghat to his late mom's name. I
wish his mom great peace in heaven!), he has been an instrumental
social force for new activities. Some of his new proposals are
supposedly neat, though some members in Pashupati Kshetra trust
reportedly derides his proposal as a proposal of personal interest
(to me, it sounds like Nepali nature of khutta tanne... ).
Unlike Ganges, Bagmati is polluted only by a few millions people
and for a few miles before reaching KTM. Cleaning her is not a big
deal once the work is started!!
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