To make Ganga and Yamuna clean, first clean their tributaries: Rajendra Singh

Singh, who recently won the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, is on a visit to New Delhi to take up the cause of the highly polluted Hindon river with the authorities at a “Hindon, Yamuna, Ganga River Panchayat” to be held on Thursday, as part of his Jal-Jan Jodo Abhiyan – a mass movement to connect people with water that he had launched in April 2013.

“Before cleaning Yamuna & Ganga, one should clean other river, which end in Yamuna & Ganga River… This Hindon River only further converts Yamuna and Ganga River into drain,” he told IBNS.

Official figures show that Hindon is among the most polluted tributary of the Yamuna with a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) ranging between an alarming 100 and 260 miligram/litre.

The acceptable limit of BOD for safe drinking is around 2 mg/l.

“Observing this reality, we should first focus on cleaning of Hindon River before cleaning  Yamuna and Ganga. The present challenge of the state, Industrialist and Society is to clean Hindon River and protect the lives of people,” Singh said.

It may be mentioned that Hindon has a total run of 400 kilometres and it flows across the  Western Uttar Pradesh districts of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar where it confluences with Yamuna.

While Hindon has 20 major industries – largely paper and sugar mills besides chemical industries and numerous slaughter houses – that discharge largely untreated waste into its waters, even Hindons two tributaries – Kali (West) and Krishni rivers are highly polluted.

In its total stretch of about 90 kms, Kali (West) river has 36 major polluting industries while the 130 km long Krishni river has 14 major polluting industries. Besides, the 52 km long Dhamola Nullah in Saharanpur, that meets Hindon, carries the entire city’s sewerage with it till the culminating point, sources alleged.

“The level of contamination of water in these rivers suggest that the Effluent Treatment Plants in these industries don’t function properly,” Singh said.

Officials at the Uttar Pradesh irrigation and Water Resources department conceded on conditions of anonymity that even the municipalities that fall in the routes too are guilty of discharging untreated sewerage in these rivers.

“It is in this context that the Jal Jan Jodo Campaign is coming forward and leading a public engagement and movement to rejuvenate the Hindon River as a collective responsibility,” Singh said.

The Thursday river panchayat is expected to be attended by Uma Bharti, Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, as well as Uttar Pradesh’s Water Resources minister, Shivpal Singh Yadav, besides senior officials from their respective ministries, as well as water practitioners & experts, policy makers, media functionaries, researchers & academicians.

“The River Panchayat will focus on identification of solution for ensuring rejuvenation of Hindon and Ancillary Rivers,” Singh said.