Parliamentary Affairs, Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Saryu Roy will visit various districts of Jharkhand from May 29 to June 5 under the Damodar-Swarnarekha Inspection Programme. He will look into the pollution levels of these two rivers and encroachment along their banks.
A year ago, Roy had conveyed the issue of industrial units polluting these two crucial rivers of Jharkhand to Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy. Following this, the MoS had convened a meeting with representatives of Public Sector Undertakings (PSU), including Coal India and Damodar Valley Corporation, responsible for polluting River Damodar and instructed them to check their practice of releasing pollutants in the river.
“The visit is meant to find out whether the condition of Damodar and Swarnarekha has improved during the last one year or not. Compliance of instructions issued to the PSUs will be checked during this inspection visit,” stated Roy during a press conference on Saturday.
Roy, who happens to be the Chairperson of Damodar Bachao Andolan, will begin the first leg of his visit from Dhanbad which will end in Medninagar on May 2, inspecting the stretch of River Damodar. He will then visit the watershed areas of River Swanrarekha on June 04 and 05. The course of his visit will encompass Ranchi, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Dhanbad, lohardaga, Chatra, Hazaribagh, latehar and Palamu.
Roy, along with members of Water Resources Conservation Campaign, will visit spots where these rivers have been reported as polluted or encroached upon. He will also appraise the status of schemes devised for this purpose. Following his assessment, Roy will furnish a report based on his findings to the Central Government.
“Samples of aquatic life and soil from river beds of Damodar and Swarnarekha will be collected to determine the pollution levels in these water bodies. Feedback will be taken from the people living along the banks of these two rivers on pollution and encroachment in these rivers to understand the ground reality,” Roy said.
Along with checking polluters and squatters dogging Damodar and Swarnarekha, Roy will also visit latehar and Palamu on June 01 and 02 to review Saryu Action Plan and Palamu Tiger Project, which are being being conducted in these two districts respectively.