Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO), while raising concern over the health of the candidates, their supporters and campaigners who are out in the streets in both urban areas and villages to campaign during the ongoing general elections owing to rising heat, has also called upon the political parties to focus on plans to tackle the growing river pollution, land degradation, depletion of forests, urban sewerage, waste dumping and slum dwellers issues etc.
“We have been warning that Odisha’s land degradation is among the fastest in the nation and we are already experiencing a desertification process which is not only reducing our land productivity but also pushing our farmers to commit suicide and other miseries. It is high time the political parties came out with clear plans to combat desertification and stop farmers from dying and getting further marginalised,” said WIO convener Ranjan Panda.
“Farmers, forest dwellers, fisher folks and all people who primarily depend on natural resources are in impoverished conditions.Diversion of water from farming to industries and urban areas is a major problem faced by these communities. The political parties should tell us what their agenda to stop this diversion isIJ asked Panda further.
Natural forests are vanishing fast; rivers and other water bodies are dying and decaying in this State. There is no effort to protect them from encroachers and abusers. Ponds and tanks in large numbers in each urban centre have been diverted for other purposes such as real estate, market complex, parks and other such things. River beds and flood plains have also been encroached causing devastation during floods, said Panda.
“We would like to ask each political party to detail their plans to free these vital water bodies from encroachment”, Panda urged. Urbanisation in Odisha is creating many of the pollution woes. Urban sewerage, garbage and other wastes are a major polluter and encroacher of our rivers and water Bodies. Urban areas have no forests left and have no ecological plans either. Pedestrians and cyclists in the urban areas are facing a lot of problems while commuting as the urban landscapes have been designed only for motor vehicles.
The WIO wanted that urban areas should have mandatory water harvesting and conservation plans. Similarly, urban garbage and other wastes must not be dumped in rural areas. At the moment, almost all the cities of the State are dumping their wastes illegally in adjacent rural areas thereby polluting their farms, encroaching upon their common lands and killing their water bodies, it said.
Rural people in general and slum dwellers in urban areas are facing acute water scarcity. They are neither getting sufficient water nor quality tested water to drink. “The political parties should tell us their plans to provide quality tested drinking water to all the people of the State not as a matter of a charity but as a right of the people to get these from the Government,” urged Panda.
Odisha’s coast line is vulnerable to sea rise and other vagaries of climate change. Villagers in some parts of the coastline are always living with the fear of ingress of the sea.The State Government has so far failed to mitigate these woes and have failed in rehabilitating the climate refugees of the State properly.“People need to know your plan to deal with polluting industries; industries that are illegally drawing both ground water and surface water; and industries that are failing to comply to environmental regulations,” said Panda.