Govindacharya will flag off the Yatra from Delhi tomorrow, Sri Dada Guru of Narmada Mission
The Yamuna Sansad will remain active until the river becomes pure, says Ravi ShankarTiwari
BI News, New Delhi : Ahead of Chhath festival, several religious organisations led by Yamuna Sansad will embark on a Yamuna Yatra from Delhi to Mathura to draw attention towards heavy pollution in the river. The Yamuna Yatra will be flagged off from Chhath Ghat, by nationalist thinker and former BJP organisation secretary KN Govindacharya. A Havan will also be performed praying for restoration of Yamuna to its clean form, said renowned environmental activist Ravi Shankar Tiwari.
Under the Yatra, to be flagged off from Chhath Ghar near ITO in New Delhi on October 28, thousands of people will walk on following the course of Yamuna towards Mathura, Yamuna Sansad convener Ravi Shankar Tiwari said in a press conference. He said, the Yamuna Yatra, a citizen centric initiative to express peoples’ resolve to contribute to reviving the Yamuna that has been “rendered into a drain despite years of efforts by governments to clean it. The rejuvenation of Yamuna will happen only with the joint efforts of the government and the society.” Tiwari added, the ‘Yamuna Yatra’ initiative will encourage active participation of people in cleaning the river.
The nine day Padyatra will conclude at Mathura covering over 185 Kms of Yamuna bank stretch on November 5. According to Tiwari, “Citizens of Delhi-NCR-Mathura are coming together to breathe life back into the ailing Yamuna. A group of concerned citizens under the banner of Yamuna Sansad and several other organisations are rallying thousands of people to participate in Yamuna Yatra on the banks of the Yamuna from Delhi to Mathura to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the sorry state of the holy river, which is plagued by pollution and degradation.” Twenty-two drains fall into the river from Wazirabad to Okhla stretch in Delhi only, a 22-kilometre stretch that accounts for 75 per cent of the river’s pollution load. This will probably be the biggest such effort to sensitise the people of Delhi and ensure their participation in cleaning the Yamuna”, said the convener of the Yamuna Sansad, a campaign launched by environmentalists, conservationists, academicians and researchers working to revive the river.
“There will 8 stop overs during the Yatra during which locals living along the Yamuna will be invited to discuss pollution in the river and ways to solve the problem with full public support,” Tiwari said.
Several other organisations including Narmada Mission led by seer Sri Dada Guru will take active part in the Yatra, he said.
The seer has been on a mission to conserve and preserve Narmada from human interventions and marched over 3200 Km to create awareness among the people, Tiwari said.
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Experts say untapped waste water from unauthorised colonies and jhuggi-jhopri clusters, and the poor quality of the treated waste water discharged from sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) is the main reason behind the high pollution levels in the river Yamuna.
The river can be considered fit for bathing if the biological oxygen demand is less than three milligram per litre and dissolved oxygen is greater than five milligram per litre.
The Yamuna Sansad will remain active until the river becomes pure, Ravi ShankarTiwari said. He added that the campaign has garnered the support of political parties. Tiwari announced, “ we are going to organise a “save the rivers rally” at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 30 in which lakhs of people will participate.”
” To save our rivers from pollution and degradation, we have given ‘ Dilli Chalo’call. Lakhs of people from across the country will participate in Ramlila Maidan rally pledging to keep the river clean. The purpose is to sensitise people to work in this direction,” said K N Govindacharya. According to veteran leader, “our ancient rivers are dying, but nobody is worried. We have to wage a people’s war to save them.”
The campaign calls for a removal of encroachments on the river floodplains, improving the sewer network and STPs in the capital, stopping the direct discharge of industrial effluent into the river in Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, developing biodiversity parks on the floodplains, ensuring environmental flow and making the polluters pay.
