Saturday, 15 JULY 2023 | PURNIMA BISHT | DEHRADUN
The Ganga river in Uttarakhand is getting polluted by an estimated 10,000 tonnes of faecal waste which has been generated by about three crore Kanwadiyas during the ongoing Kanwad Yatra in the State . People arriving for Kanwad Yatra are causing a severe sanitation crisis, especially when it comes to the Ganga as most of the waste eventually ends up in the river.
Due to incessant rainfall this monsoon, the rate of waste entering the holy Ganga has risen significantly too. Experts opine that the Kanwad Yatra is marred by mismanagement on various fronts in Uttarakhand. Open defecation is one of the major sanitation woes during the pilgrimage and over 10,000 tonnes of faecal waste has been generated by the Kanwadiyas since the commencement of the pilgrimage. Lakhs of Kanwadiyas mainly pass via Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, and Haridwar to fetch the holy water of Ganga during the Kanwad Yatra. Nearly three crore Kanwadiyas have visited the State in the past 12 days and the number is expected to cross 4.5 crore by the end of Yatra as per authorities. This number is three times the total population of the State and the sanitation arrangements done by respective municipal bodies seem inadequate to tackle the amount of waste generated by lakhs of Kanwadiyas every day.
“The Municipal Corporation of Haridwar (MCH) has deployed 600 additional sanitation workers and stationed 1,500 temporary toilets across the city besides having 1,000 permanent toilets. Regular sanitation works are being conducted by teams during day and night,” said the Haridwar municipal commissioner Dayanand Saraswati. The Municipal Corporation of Rishikesh (MCR) has also stationed seven toilets each installed with 10 toilet seats besides deploying additional sanitation workers, as claimed by the Rishikesh municipal commissioner Rahul Goel. The municipal officials of Muni Ki Reti municipality informed that they have also deployed 40 additional sanitation workers and stationed 15 temporary toilets besides having three permanent toilets. However, the experts opined that these arrangements are not adequate to manage faecal waste disposal during Kanwad Yatra. They said that the government claims to spend exorbitant amounts of money on Ganga cleaning projects but proper arrangements are not done during such pilgrimage as per the standards which worsens its condition.
The noted environmentalist and founder of the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation Anoop Nautiyal said, “On average, a person generates 125 grammes of faecal waste. If a Kanwadiya stays for at least three days in the State, a total of 375 grammes of faecal waste is generated. For nearly three crore Kanwadiyas, it amounts to about one crore kilogrammes or 10,000 tonnes of faecal waste.” He said that open defecation and all kind of environmentally unfriendly activities done by Kanwadiyas are ruining the ecology of the fragile state of Uttarakhand. He said that though religious sentiments are welcomed, sincere efforts are needed to be made not just to sensitise pilgrims but ensure adequate and sustainable sanitation arrangements are done in the State.
The secretary of the Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (SPECS) Brij Mohan Sharma also opined that inefficient sanitation facilities are the main cause of open defecation and faecal dumping in the Ganga. He said that the municipal bodies have claimed to station temporary toilets which are not sufficient and certainly lack the capacity to process such a huge amount of faecal waste which ultimately tend to end up in Ganga.
“Though most of the waste does not stay in the flowing river, it takes considerable time to neutralise all the harm it causes. Ganga is already considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world and preventive actions should be taken too rather than spending money on cleaning it,” added Sharma. Some experts also opined that the government should also impose a sanitation tax of at least Rs 100 on each pilgrim entering the State and spend the revenue on improving sanitation facilities.
