Residents from scores of villages and settlements on both the banks of the Asan river from Chandrabani area to Kulhal have come together against establishment of a municipal trenching ground and waste treatment plant at Shishambada on the river land. Also opposing the sewage treatment plant proposed on the banks of the Asan near Harbhajwala village by the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), the villagers have decided to take out a mass rally on August 20 under the banner of Asan Nadi Kshetra Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (ANKBSS) to seek cancellation of both these projects, said the group’s head Hussain Ahmed.
Addressing the media at the press club here, Ahmed said that the Asan river which emerges from near the shrine at Chandrabani believed to be the site where the sage Gautam Rishi undertook penance, is a religiously revered river with scores of villages and settlements being situated along both of its banks. Water of this river is used to irrigate thousands of hectares of farmland apart from which a number of cremation sites are also situated on the banks of this river in which the people also consign the ashes of their cremated relations.
He said, “The municipal trenching ground is slated to be constructed along the river at Sihniwala, Shishambada area. The proposed site also has a considerable number of Shisham and Khair trees growing on it. The villagers fear major environmental contamination and damage in the area also affecting the river religiously revered. Further, the MDDA has proposed to construct a sewage treatment plant for Dehradun city along the Asan river at a site near the Harbhajwala village. All the human waste from the city will end up in this area and also result in contamination of the Asan river. Not a single representative of the local community had been involved while the authorities planned such constructions. The scores of villages and settlements along the Asan river also house a number of people who had migrated from mountainous region in search of a better life. But works like the trenching ground and STP construction will ruin the river and environment in this region. Villagers fear that if such facilities are built, hills on both sides and the general wind blow direction being east-west, will exacerbate the environmental damage making the very air foul to breathe.”
The villagers will rally in protest on August 20 and submit a memorandum to the Dehradun district magistrate, addressed to Chief Minister Harish Rawat, seeking cancellation of the said projects. ANKBSS general secretary Jaspal Chaudhary and other office bearers also expressed their views calling for effective measures against such environmental damage and major land encroachment especially by private educational institutions which has narrowed the channel of the river.