Giving Life to the River that Gives Life to Us.

The River is as old as the earth. The civilization is as old as the humanity. Around 500 million people sustain their lives with the river. Millions of  pilgrims and millions of farmers use it  for bathing every day.  But to our surprise people  from some quarters  are questioning the new government why the Ganga is not cleaned up in 3 months? 

A River Rejuvenation Programme is essential to begin with.

It is a complex multidisciplinary  issue. It involves Engineering, Ecology, Planning, Hydrology and many more. 

• To start with a big awareness campaign has to be launched asking industrialists  or the devotees or Municipalities of the Gangetic region to desist from polluting the river or its tributaries. 
•  Factories of rural India or Modern India have to be moved out of the fragile regions or install recycle-rs and  no untreated industry/factory waste discharge or from the residential localities to be discharged without treating them.
• The farmers in the region must be asked to minimize the use of fertilizers and pesticides and desist from using the river for washing off all remnants of these harmful chemicals. 

1. Religious heads must propagate that devotees/pilgrims must follow the rituals that do not harm the river. 

• No need to leave lighted camphor on running rivers and the same can be done  on the river bank.
• No need to leave old clothes in the river and the devotees can  donate the same to the needy.
• Arrangements must be made to enable pilgrims to take showers before entering the river. ( Just as we do before entering a swimming pool)
• Banning the sale of shampoos, liquor (if possible) or small plastic sachets  for packing umpteen type of liquids would help preserve the environment
• Banning the production of poly packs and making people carry a jute or a cloth bag or charging the consumer more for poly covers would help reduce the pollution levels.
• There is nothing Spiritually Uplifting in sprinkling the ashes of dead bodies over white snow clad mountains or on running rivers.
• Throwing burnt, half-burnt or un-burnt dead bodies of humans MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY. 
• The custom of  taking a dip in the river waters was in vogue which acted as integrating India. 
• In the era of internet people prefer Virtual world over the real world. 

Apart from these planning,surveying and supervision cleaning of  the river bed and deepening of the river must be undertaken. Preparing detailed plans of rehabilitation would help reduce conflicts between the planners, implementer and stakeholders. 

Local residents must be encouraged to take part in the campaigns. The cost of these programmes must be kept low for sustained campaigns. 
The plans must be simple and dependable. 

The government must bring in an ordinance/ pass it in legislatures  to take over 30 minutes of air time from Radio/TV channels and a quarter page of space for magazines beyond 24 printed pages  and a little lower space from smaller magazines  for spreading all essential messages, especially the green campaigns.



Dead bodies being dumped in the river Ganga
Google Images