Whose People whose country?

[Dr Surindra Suthar]

I am in Delhi since September 2008 and worked on surface water pollution in Ghaziabad. Holy River Hindon which is lifeline for about 2 million rural populations, residing in catchment of this river in UP. Ghaziabad is fastest growing industrial city in UP and several hundreds of small scale and large scale industries are situated in this city. The urban population is now double than last decade in this region, which another big issue for ecosystem health.......... During survey i realized that most of industrial waste-water is being discharged without treatment or after partial treatments to adjoined drains which opens lastly into River Hindon or Yamuna. Moreover, ETPs (Effluent treatment plant) installed in individual industrail units are of old designs and are not efficient to remove toxicants (metals, PAHs, phenolics substances, pesticides, and other xenobiotics) from industrial discharges. The similar problem has been seen for CETPs (Common Effluent Treatment Plant) of this industrial zone. More dangerous conditions was in areas where some industries are putting waste-water back to ground layers through deep bore-wells. Air pollution in Ghaziabad is another health hazardous for local residents. Industries are pushing toxicants in lungs of local residents through polluted air.

Not only industries but unplanned urbanization, illegal colonization and huge human migration posed extra pressure over the quality of life in this region. Untreated sewerage with high BOD load and toxicants are spoiling ecological quality of local surface water resources. In other words local water resources (Hindon and Yamuna) are now acting as open sewerage lines in this region.

Now question is that what is the role of those poor rural people who are consuming hazardous chemicals directly through food or water intakes or through other components of the food chains. Industrialist are earning millions of rupees and pollution authorities have closed their eyes.....
who cares the humanity and nature ....our precious natural resources are being spoiled by these greedy industrialist....Who have given the right to industrialist to play with lives of poor rural and urban population.

Are you ready to fight for right of those rural people who are paying money for drinking water.....don't surprise it is truth....people are purchasing water for consumption in rural habitations of this region...from water mafias supplying water by tanks....where is basic human rights?....
Who will tell to poor people for their rights....

[RAGHAVA]

No response from any one till date. This shows how negligent we are. we shout at the problem and try ourself to keep us away from that problem and expect someone to take care of it. Ridiculous

[RAGHAVA]

Hello Dr Surendra Suthar,

This is the problem the entire India is facing (since my knowledge is limited to our nation only in this matter). But do we really working to eradicate it or our politicians are using it as a political stunt?. The time has come where more intellectual people like you should take an initiative to mitigate this pollution problem. Let us form a group to evaluate this sort of problems in our native place and take pro-active actions in resolving the problems in an effective way one after the other in a peaceful way. I believe that education of proper hygiene is the most important and initial step in this regard.

[M.Vijay Kumar]

Dear all

You have highlighted a point which is common in all parts of the country and we have experience where there is no industrial pollution but the ground water is contaminated with pesticides and bad taste of water in Thane distric of maharashtra where the region is backword and mostly have tribals. Poor Village People nearar to all industial complexes getting burnt of it like in Tarapur Industial estate etc. Few farmers who have the resources use lot of pesticides and due to heavy rain fall it leaches and ground water is getting contaminated. There should be a control mechanisam for such pollution and mitigation efforts

[Dr. Atul Takarkhede]

Dear all,

All rivers in India passing throgh or nearby large town/city or any indusrial area are now facing same problem. Most the rivers are already converted to big gutters carrying sewage and industrial effluents.
I have worked on two rivers passing through Nagpur city in Maharashtra. Both rivers are now just carrying sewage and industrial effluent. I have analysed only some basic and essential parameters, but advanced study like heavy metal analysis definetly come out with shocking results. Mr. Satya Prakash Mehra's concern about biomagnification/ bioaccumulation of the pollutants is very important as use of this water for irrigation is common.

[Satya Prakash Mehra]

Dr Suthar, this is the condition we could see in most of our cities. Similar is the case of Udaipur. The urban population is getting water from water resource dept but worse is the condition of rural sector. Comparatively Udaipur is small city but is world renown due to beauty of the lakes. Reality is something different. The erstwhile rulers of Mewar were having better vision than the modern urban planners who treat themselves as most intellect sector and alter the age old set up. No proper management, no planning. One most important plannings of the modern planners for municipal sewage disposal was to pass a pipeline from inside the Lake Pichola and it was implemented. Result- spilling of the municipal sewage inside the lake water which is the drinking water source of Udaipur population.......

Further, situation of the rural sector is even worst. Once perennial river Ahar (known for one of the oldest civilization even older than Moha-ja-Daro & Harappa) till 1970s is now converted to gutter (Will post the pictures of the downflow of the part which enters Udaisagar). One could imagine what the rural population residing in the lower parts are consuming when the sewage of more then five lakh people along with the industrial sewage is directly flowing in the Ahara. More than that the water is used for irrigation purpose, now what's about the biomagnification/ bioaccumulation of the pollutants.......

This is other side of Udaipur - "City of Lakes", Kashmir of Rajjasthan" or "Venice of the East", place which is mostly liked by the celebrities now-a-days. Tourists use Lake Palace - one of the most beautiful heritage hotels is inside the Lake Pichola (source of drinking water for Udaipurites) so where the waste is flushed out............ can imagine the world is of intellectuals.

[jayant biswas]

Dear Dr. Surindra,

It was panic situation when we come to know that our holy rivers are polluted by the elite citizen and industrialist whose aim is to earn profit. I equally agree with your views that ground water was being polluted in the near by area of Hindon. Since you have raised this issue, it was suggetsed to kindly bring the notice of concerned authoritise, Joint secretary, National River Conservation Directorate, Ministry of Environment & Forests for taking the appropriate actions to stop polluting our rivers. It was also requested to identify the exact point source of pollution , industries name and location.