Ganga /river Pollution some suggestions

R o b b y S h a r m a 865, Block-B,Panki Kanpur-208020
Uttar Pradesh. INDIA
Freelance Research Scholar Ph:09235844258; 09415438326
Town & Country Planning Problems Email.sharmarobby@hotmail.com
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Ganga and other Rivers, their Pollution, Some Suggestions for their cleaning & protection

To Shri Manmohan Singh Ji 22-06-2008
the Prime Minister Of India
New Delhi

Respected Sir I had written, earlier, a detailed article on River Pollution, specially about River Ganga to your good self on 15-01-2007. The article was rather lengthy Here are some suggestions in brief for containing the Pollution in Ganga and other Rivers :-
1. Although we call the Rivers specially Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada etc as Mother
& in fact treat them as Deities but we rob her of her property all the time so for all practical purposes, River Ganga is a religious “Person” having status of a Minor and thus anybody can on her behalf file a suit / writ petition for the protection of her Rights & property.
2. The Government of India should immediately make suitable Legislation with
reference to the entry at S.No.56 in the Seventh Schedule, Union List of the Constitution & immediately make suitable Legislation with regard to the Ganga & other Inter-State Rivers & in it , firstly the Land of the River, the Flood hazard Zone should be firstly clearly demarcated, taking in to account its natural spread & the same should be entered in to the Revenue Records, in the name of the Rivers (some cut off date of say 1947 should be taken as the base).After this cut off date, all land holdings in this Area will be deemed to have belonged to and will always belong to the River and all occupants will merely be treated as permanent Tenants of the River, paying rent in to the fund of the Rivers and whenever the River encroaches, temporarily upon other peoples lands beyond its own land, either by a change of course, then the River will pay rent to the owners of these lands, out of its fund.
3. A Corridor of five Kilometers width should be declared on both sides of the
River & declared as River-Corridor & planted with Orchards & other Trees or put to such other use as would be most helpful for the health of the River. In case Orchard or tree Plantation is chosen for implementation, it should be done with the active participation of the Owners of the Lands there in, The Change of Use of agricultural lands to other uses in this Corridor should be strictly forbidden & its status be maintained as River Corridor/Agricultural Lands. The Use of Organic/Chemical Fertilizers & Pesticides in this Corridor Zone should be strictly forbidden (including for the crop of water melon etc). Land of those owners as are reluctant to participate, in the Corridor Projects, should be acquired over the years by Using all the Money generated by sale of fishing rights in the Rivers, Boat plying License fee (auction of Nauka ghat rights) & by Reserving for the purpose of the Development & welfare of the River, all Revenue generated by the sale of the property of the river, like river minerals, Boulders, Sand etc by way of auction. The funds generated from sale of any such property of the river should not be utilized for any other purpose & declared to be the property of that river and kept in a separate fund. The River will thus itself over the years pay for its cleaning. The claim of the state or Central Governments that they are providing Crores of rupees to prevent pollution of the Rivers is a fraudulent claim. On the contrary the Governments are robbing the Rivers of their valuable property, fish, sand, boulders etc and minting thousands of Crores of rupees every year.
4. The Legislation should ban the extension or expansion of the Cities, situated on the Banks or in close vicinity to the Rivers, towards the River, even if such expansion is confined to area outside this River-Corridor, they should be free to plan their extension/ expansion towards the other sides, i.e. away from the Rivers but never to wards the River, because if Planned Human Habitations towards the rivers are not stopped immediately, the rivers will surely die. The Existing Master Plans of the Cities which may have proposals of Extension /Expansion towards the River should be reviewed & further Constructions stopped immediately. Village sites to be exempted for the bona fide residential needs of the villagers but change of Agricultural Lands to Industrial Use, towards the side of the River should be prohibited.
5. All Municipalities, who discharge Sewerage or Drainage of Cities in to the
River, should transfer 50% of the Sewerage & Drainage Tax in to the
account of the River.
6. Wherever the River is used as a waterway, to transport goods, waterways tax
Should be collected and transferred to the account of the River.
7. Separate feeder electric lines, ensuring 24 hours electric supply should connect
all the Effluent treatment plants of suitable capacity, which should be made
mandatory to be installed by all the Municipalities/Industrial Estates & others ,
discharging effluents in the River. It should be mandatory, for them, to install
back up generators. The Plants may be handed over to the Ex Army Men
Organizations for corruption free operation & maintenance.
8. All the Municipalities & Industrial undertakings/Industrial Estates/Cantonment
Boards as well as Irrigation Department should pay for the water drawn from the
river, for example say Rs one per ten thousand liters of water drawn & this
amount should be transferred to the account of the River.
9. A certain percentage of the revenue of all hydroelectric power projects should be
deposited in to the account of the River say one percent.
10. Strict monitoring of River water quality should be done by drawing samples
regularly and testing them in specially set up laboratories, exclusively for the
purpose. These Labs may be set up in the effluent treatment Plant Campuses.
11. Regular patrolling by the River police comprised specially of Ex Army Men to
ensure that no dead bodies & animal carcasses are thrown in to the river & this should be made a cognizable Offence punishable with minimum three years imprisonment. This River Police job may be entrusted to the Ex-Army-Men’s Organization, which is entrusted with running of the Effluent treatment plants.
12. As the River Ganga is mainly a rain fed river, its major catchments areas should
be clearly demarcated and care should be taken to protect them from
encroachment. It should be ensured that the proposed Ganga Expressway does
not effect any such major catchments area and prevent the free flow of rain water
in to the River.
13. Professor Rajiv Sinha of I I T Kanpur , who has been doing research on the Ganga for the last many years also feels that River Zoning needs to be done immediately in India and there should be no Construction activity carried out in the Flood hazard Zone of every River. As regards Ganga Expressway he says that no technical details of the project are available. He explained to me about the two modes of treating Sewerage & effluents, i.e. the Dilute & disperse method and the Concentrate and contain method and suggested that the Concentrate and Contain method was more suitable for India.
14. From Haridwar to Ganga Sagar, within this River Corridor, about one hundred thousand Talabs(ponds) of about one hectare each should be dug preferably under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and filled up with surplus water of the River during the rains. These should be used for Fisheries development and given for management to the Cooperative Societies of the Villagers, who would be obliged for their periodic de silting also. Thus this will ensure better economical prospects for the Villagers , add to the Country’s food production and also ensure ground water & Ganga’s recharging in the summers/lean period.

Sir I hope you find some of the suggestions as useful and I request you to take measures to protect the Rivers, especially River Ganga.
Thanks
Yours truly



(Robby Sharma)
865, Block-B, Panki Kanpur-208020
Copy To:1. Dr Raghuvansh Prasad, Minister of Agriculture, G.O.I, Krishi
Bhawan New Delhi.
2. Smt Sonia Gandhiji, 10, Janpath New Delhi.
3. Baba Ramdeo Ji, Patanjali Yog Peeth, District Haridwar Uttaranchal.
4. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, headquarters at Nagpur Maharashtra.
5. President Bhartiya JantaParty, New Delhi.
6. Hon’ble Mayawati Ji Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.