Ganga Was Declared as National River a Year Ago – the Holy River is More Polluted

When Holy Ganga was declared the National River of India on November 4, 2008, not many expected any radical change in the pollution level in Ganga. But many people did expect that pollution will be controlled and plastic wastes removed. But nothing major has happened after the National River Status and the holy river is becoming dirtier and more polluted every day.

What has Holy Ganga gained after one year of National River Status – All official formalities are completed to save Ganga!!! Meetings, more meeting, committees, sub committees, official tours have been completed. Lot of Chai (tea), biscuit, cashew nuts and bottled water has been consumed in the name of Ganga. Perks, travel allowance and salaries for many. Lot of paper has been wasted...

Binay Singh writes about River Ganga after its National River status

"It is good that the Ganga has been given the status of the national river, but is it enough to put an end to the miseries of our national river? questioned Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the convener of the Ganga Seva Abhiyan (GSA) and disciple of Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.

"There is a need of separate and stringent laws for saving the Ganga. But, the government has taken the issue of the Ganga like that of any other ordinary river and attached it with the environment ministry. Then, what was the need to declare it as a national river? wondered the seer, who had spearheaded a campaign to save the river by forming a body of Ganga Sansad across the country.

An eminent river expert and head of the Ganga Research Laboratory, Institute of Technology (IT-BHU), Prof UK Chowdhary was not satisfied with the developments. "The government should frame a constitution of the Ganga (Ganga ka Samvidhan) to determine the baseline of the issue by gathering opinions of experts from research institutes of the country," he said, adding the only achievement in one year was that a meeting had been held.

He had also objection over the inclusion of politicians (ministers) and bureaucrats in the NGRBA. "Only river experts and scientists can explain what is required to save the Ganga, which is gradually losing its Oxygen absorption and retention capacity," he said, adding the Ganga was the only river in the world which had 12ppm of oxygen. "The Ganga was once known as the reservoir of oxygen. But, today, it's oxygen has reduced to 4-8ppm," he said.

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