ARUN KASHYAP | HARIDWAR
Even as official apathy continues to cause contamination of the Bhagirathi in Uttarkashi district, the Ganga river is facing similar conditions in the Haridwar district.
At a time when the Mahakumbh Mela is underway at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, an overflowing sewage pumping station in Jwalapur area in Haridwar is reportedly resulting in dirty water and waste entering the Ganga. Locals allege that remains of butchered animals from settlements inhabited by members of a particular community in Kassaban area of Jwalapur also routinely end in the Ganga river especially during the evenings and on special occasions of the community.
Those in the area state that such contamination of the holy river is a routine feature. They blame the negligence of the officials of the Jal Sansthan’s Maintenance Division (Ganga) and the higher authorities for the current state of affairs. According to sources, even in the past, the contaminated water ended up directly in the Ganga instead of being sent to the sewage treatment plant from the sewage pumping station here and in Pandewala. It is pertinent to mention here that sewage pumping stations pump the sewage water from urban areas and settlements to the sewage treatment plants, from where the treated water is released into the river.
However, some allege that the negligence of the contractors handling the sewage pumping stations and the departmental officials has resulted in the dirty water directly ending in the river without reaching the treatment plant in the past too. The Jal Sansthan, Maintenance Division (Ganga) assistant engineer Abdul Rashid has been posted in the Jwalapur area for some time now. Sources state that he has cited various reasons in the past too for similar situations, despite which the contamination of the holy river has continued.
The department’s executive engineer Harish Bansal said that the division was aware of the issue. He said that the pumping station experienced overflow probably as something got stuck there. He averred that the issue has been resolved.
Meanwhile, as crores of devotees and visitors visit Prayagraj for the Mahakumbh- bathing in rivers originating in Uttarakhand, years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ambitious Clean Ganga Mission, it appears as if waters of the holy river are still being polluted blatantly in the State of its origin.
