Allahabad farmers take out rally to spread river pollution awareness
April 2nd, 2011 - 9:24 pm ICT by ANIAgra, Apr 2(ANI): Farmers of Allahabad, who are carrying out a rally to spread awareness about increasing pollution in River Yamuna, reached Agra on Saturday.
The rally will culminate in the national capital.
“We are looking forward to its success. In today’s time, till the time people do not come out on roads, their pleas are not heard. So, today we felt that all the people, regardless of caste and religion, only concentrating on the problem of water, which is affecting all have come out,” said Ashwani Kumar Mishra, a participant.
“We are fighting for our natural rivers like Yamuna and Ganges and people from all walks of life have started realising the problems of the rivers and they have started coming on roads and speaking about the problem, so now we are confident that we will get success in this matter,” he added.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, around 70 percent of the pollution in the Yamuna is human excrement.
Meanwhile, D.K. Joshi, member of Yamuna Action Plan Monitoring Committee, made by the Supreme Court, said that till now around four to five billion rupees have been spent on the cleaning of the river, but the pollution has increased by multiple times.
Joshi further said that they are demanding the Supreme Court begin a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the funds spent on the river cleaning project of the Yamuna.
“Once again, people have gone to Supreme Court asking for a CBI inquiry on the matter. All the guilty officials, whether they are TTZ (Taj Trapezium Zone) or Water Board officials, CBI should do their inquiry because it is a criminal waste of money. And when today people are coming forward for the sake of the matter, so I would like to thank them all, whether they are holy men or farmers’ union,” he said.
“The highest voice is of the people and now people have started voicing their concerns, so definitely, whether it is a matter of court or people’s matter, fight will be carried out on both the issues,” he added.
New Delhi alone produces 3.6 billion litres of sewage every day but due to poor management less than half of it is effectively treated. The remaining untreated waste is dumped into the Yamuna River.
The contaminated water results in water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea - one of the biggest killers of children in India - and affects thousands of poor people living near the river who drink the water and bathe in it.
Yamuna is 1,370 kilometres long and is the largest tributary of the holy river Ganges originating from northern India. (ANI)
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Tags: board officials, caste, cbi inquiry, central bureau of investigation, central pollution control board, farmers union, five billion, ganges, holy men, joshi, monitoring committee, multiple times, natural rivers, pollution control board, river pollution, river yamuna, rupees, walks of life, waste of money, water board