Yamuna is dead

The latest art exhibition in Delhi 'Sediments and other untitled' by Vibha Galhotra tells a sad tale of a river which is dead. The artistic expression was so transforming that it would have made you realize how irresponsible we are towards our natural resources.

'Sediments and others untitled' was focused on the sediments of a polluted river 'Yamuna' and it told the realistic view of how we left a river to drown till its death.

In-fact it all started in 1880s when the Chandrawal water works were created to supply piped water to the citizens of Shahjahanabad. Few years later, it was followed by an underground sewage system that began carry all the filth of the city to the river. In the course of urbanization, when Britishers started building a system in which they ensured that sewage which carried filth were released to the downstream of Chandrawal.

There was lack of foresightedness, that the downstream water of river goes to hundred of cities and villages including Brindaban, Barsana, Mathura, Agra till Allahabad where people rely heavily on water of Yamuna. But this was what our colonial masters did, but what we had done after they left our country 66 years before. We simply followed their footsteps.

Till starting of 1900, the Yamuna used to have a flow in the driest month of the season. Also the population in Delhi in 1911 was only around 240,000, therefore the sewage output was not in such quantities which would have harmed Yamuna drastically.

Today, there was a drastic change in demographics of Delhi. There are around 14 million people who lives in Delhi other than those millions of people who resides in Delhi for making their livelihood. The shortsighted policy of building large dams and barrages along the course of every big or mid-sized river has led to a situation where Yamuna do not have any flowing water in its bed, once we discount the flow of untreated sewage.
Supreme Court first scrutinized the severe pollution of Yamuna, about 19 years ago. Loads of orders and funds were allotted to clean the river and to build water treatment facility of sewage water. As what happens with every other government plans in India, the same happened with the plan of cleaning Yamuna.

Up-till now a whopping amount of 6,500 crore was spent and Yamuna is dirtier than ever. Delhi Jal Board proposed interceptor sewers to treat sewage before it flows into major drains, just Rs 51 crore of the Rs 1,963 crore scheme have been spent. For such delays, nobody is accountable.

With ever increasing population and housing construction, a newer kind of problem have arised. An official committee, which was made to approve the interceptor proposal, had warned that there are as many as 1,639 unathourised colonies are in Delhi, which do not have even proper drainage system. These colonies are so dense that there is hardly enough space left to work. These colonies discharge sewage directly into the river.

The challenge of building water treatment facilities will only become stiffer as projected sewage generation by 2021 is likely to be about 4,500 mld. This means sewage treatment capacity will have to be augmented by 2,000 mld in less than 10 years, says the central pollution control board.

Not only the state government of Indian capital lacks in its efforts severely, citizens too simply do not care about the upcoming problems in the nearby future. There is utter lack of awareness regarding this issue.

Nigamananda Saraswati, a Hindu monk, began his fast unto death on February 19, 2011 to save the Ganges from the pollution caused by illegal mining in the river bed. On the 115th day of his fast i.e. on 13th June, 2011, he died. During his death, there was some ambitious show of anti-corruption movement was also going on simultaneously, but only after his death anybody bothered that some real agitation was also being done by a monk for some realistic cause. There was no pomp and show in it; it was simple and pure sacrifice, which went in vain.

Similarly, NGOs arrange some kind of awareness programmes to save our rivers, few volunteers participate in those programmes and the time again starts ticking towards dead end. Instead of doing, the authorities are hiding the filth. From where the filth goes, they are building roads and Delhi Haats. The construction hides the filth from eyes but underneath the problem is worsening constantly. Thousands of million liters of sewage collected in settlement ponds will continue to leach toxins into the sub-soil.

All this we have simply adopted. Already we have lost Yamuna but still we do not care about our drowning rivers. This state of ours gives a message to those saintly personas who are ready to sacrifice their life for a noble cause, that they need to follow a different approach. Simply sacrificing their lives in not an option as, there are many people who are ready to die even without a cause.

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