Damodar Bachao, a committee monitoring the pollution level in Konar and Damodar river has written a letter to the local authorities of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) requesting them to prepare a plan to prevent pollution in the two rivers.
The committee pointed out that the absence of sewer networks in over dozen authorised and unauthorised colonies and slums in Bokaro Thermal is one of the major reasons of pollution in the Konar and Damodar rivers.
In its letter to the DVC, the monitoring committee has requested the corporation to come up with a plan for preventing pollution in the rivers from these sources and for proper disposal of faecal sludge and other wastes.
The monitoring committee expressed concern over the absence of sewer networks in the colonies and slums of six units, calling it one of the biggest reasons of pollution in the Konar and Damodar rivers.
“According to an estimate Bokaro Thermal has fifty unauthorised colonies that have a population of about one lakh, which is growing,” Gulab Prajapati an activist of Damodar bachao, said.
“There is no regulated system of emptying their septic tanks and faecal sludge that contain very high levels of coliform bacteria which gets deposited in drains and water bodies which ultimately pollute the rivers,” he added.
The monitoring committee said that about one-third of the population of Bokaro Thermal is still dependent upon the septic tanks. It has appealed the DVC to notify regulations for septage management under which responsibility of each and every person involved should be fixed so that the sewage could get properly treated in an aligned manner.
“Growing pollution has made a drastic change in nitrogen and phosphorus ratio essential for the growth of these algae colonies in the river, Imbalanced ration of nitrogen and phosphorus radically changed the environment in the Konar River that affected population of their colonies, revealed a scientific study carried out by Damodar bachao group.
The local residents say that as far as it is possible, direct disposal of sewage in the Damodar and Konar rivers needs to be minimised and massive awareness drive should be undertaken. People should come forward to make efforts for reducing the pollution level of both the rivers Konar and Damodar, experts claimed.