'Strong law needed to deter people from polluting Ganga'

Cases should be registered under IPC section 307 against those who contaminate the Ganga river as such action amount to an attempt to murder the river venerated as a mother by millions. Swami Rajrajeshwaranand said this while speaking at a programme held in the town hall on the subject of sanitation in Dehradun linked to the Namami Gange mission and to mark the start of the week long campaign to be started by the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun from Tuesday under Swachchh Bharat mission.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajrajeshwaranand stressed on the need for a strong law to deter people from polluting the Ganga. Stating that pollution was a sign of the public mentality, he stressed on the necessity for raising public awareness for preventing pollution. Stringent action should be taken against anyone found polluting a river, he added.

Namami Gange committee member Trivendra Singh Rawat said that waste from 1618 villages, 118 urban local bodies and 30 large towns ends up in the Ganga. Eighteen rivers- more than half of 35 north Indian rivers, also merge into the Ganga. The committee has started work on constructing one electric crematorium each along the river bank in the five states through which the Ganga passes. The Ganga is not polluted as much in its entire length in Uttarakhand as it is by the waste carried by the Rispana and Bindal rivers in Dehradun which merge into the Suswa that drains into the Ganga, he added.

Other speakers including the founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) Dr Anil Prakash Joshi and Society of Pollution and Environment Conservation Scientists (SPECS) secretary Dr Brij Mohan Sharma stressed on the importance of the Ganga, environmental awareness and the need for ensuring proper disposal of garbage. Though the Ganga is worshipped as pure by devotees, the pollutants dumped into it by humans end up causing situations like the one faced in some parts of West Bengal where those living along its banks in some areas have become more prone to contracting diseases like cancer. Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli was also present on the occasion.