Thaindian News

Bhopal, June 4 (IANS) A health chart for a river was unheard of till now but, in a first, the Madhya Pradesh government has begun working on it to profile various aspects of the Narmada river and suggest remedial measures required.

The chart would detail the scientific, social and environmental aspects of the river. It would show the level of Narmada water, its quality, the condition of the soil along its banks, human interference in the river, its physical changes and the condition of animals. The effect of industries along the river will also be noted.

Officials of the Narmada Samagar Nyas Board (NSYB) started working on the chart earlier this week and it will be updated every year.

“It would be first time that a health chart of the Narmada would be prepared and the board members have started woking on it since Monday,” Anil Madhav Dave, secretary of NSYB, told IANS.

The fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent, the Narmada forms the traditional boundary between northern and southern India and flows westward over a length of 1,312 km before draining through the Gulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea. It cuts across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Gujarat.

For the past over two decades, the river has been in the news for all the wrong reasons due to the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat that has displaced a large number of people in Madhya Pradesh whose rehabilitation is still hanging fire.

As part of the chart-preparing exercise, an attempt would be made to identify micro-organisms that play an important role in keeping the water clean.

From the Narmada’s source at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat, at 14 places every 100 km, readings would be taken thrice every year. A report would be presented every year before June 15.

The board has also planned to rope in science students and foreign experts for this ambitious task.

(Shahnawaz Akhtar can be contacted at shahnawaz.a@ians.in)