To,
Dr Manmohan Singh
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
Greetings from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.
Sir, when we fail to learn from our past mistakes or make timely amends, we are doomed to revisit our history. And the history of the mismanagement of our rivers indicate that our preoccupation with technological solutions to what essentially is an ecological tragedy will yet again not take us far except leaving us with dysfunctional and at many places non essential infrastructure for some future Prime Minister at a future date to lament the shortsightedness of present day administrators and planners.
Thus this is to express our utter disappointment on the 'old wine in old bottle' approach (as reported in the media) being pursued with respect to tackling the river issue with respect to river Ganga under the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) dispensation which when first came into being under you Chairmanship raised lots of hopes that now at least the river question would be addressed in a holistic manner. But alas !
Sir, we wonder as to when would our planners come to understand that the river 'problem' in our country is primarily not about its cleaning. And as long as we remain obsessed with cleaning of our rivers, more and more funds would be lost to implementing (or at least trying to) ineffectual prescriptions.
Sir, when we say basin level approach and treatment for our rivers, then we have an opportunity to think, plan and implement actions which are 'out of the box'.
These 'out of the box' questions include
a) What has happened to the 'flow' (the very basis of any river) in our rivers?
b) Can we take hard administrative (and not just judicial suggestions which have made little difference on the ground) decisions to ensure a minimum lean season environmental flows in all our rivers through a legislative action?
c) Why should waste water including sewage (originating from our towns and cities) even be permitted to drain into our rivers? The fact is that the first charge on waste water (except toxic industrial effluent) after treatment is to irrigate the farm lands and cool industrial processes and not to drain into water bodies and rivers. (Kindly recall that this was the only prescription which proved effective when Baba Balbir Singh and his followers went about successfully reviving the holy river Kali Bein in Punjab)
d) Why should our cities and industries not invest primarily and heavily in water 'recycling' (of whatever is available) and rain water harvest to meet their needs, rather look towards rivers near or even far away as their current or future source of water and draining away of their respective wastes?
e) Why is fresh water flowing in our rivers, although essential and life sustaining, being seen as an irrigation and industrial 'luxury' and its 'rationed' use by all the concerned not being promoted as a national goal?
f) Why is the ground water recharge role of our river systems not being appreciated enough?
g) Why our rivers as 'once upon a time' mode of cheap and easy transportation not being explored and promoted again?
h) Why is a river (including its flood plains) system not being seen as a unique ecosystem requiring urgent protection by law?
With the above as few of the critical questions we should then be investing primarily on
a) Catchment treatment / enrichment of our river basins to retain more and more of rain water that falls on them
b) Taking a policy decision to promote unfettered flow of rivers, by deciding that structures (dams, barrages, bridges, embankments etc) on the rivers shall be an exception and not a matter of rule. As a beginning let us at least agree on treating some of our rivers like river Chambal (and river Ganga and Yamuna tributaries in Uttarakhand and Himachal) as natural and protected against any additional harness
b) Creation of waste water diversion (away from rivers and natural water bodies), cleaning and supply infrastructure to meet primarily irrigation and industrial needs
c) Ensuring by law a minimum environmental flow round the year in all our rivers beginning river Ganga and all its tributaries (including Yamuna)
d) Ensuring by law the protection to the flood plains and all its flora and fauna of the river systems in the land
e) Making it obligatory on the part of city planners and industries to meet their water needs through recycling and rain water harvests.
f) Promotion of rivers as mode of in land transportation
Sir, we hope that our submissions made as above would be given due attention and found useful for ensuring the nation's long term environmental and water security. At the very least, please do not let the nation repeat the follies of Ganga and Yamuna Action Plans!
Warm regards,
Manoj Misra
Convener
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