Getting dirty helps clean up Yamuna (21 December 2010 Asian Age)

Many efforts and a lot of investment has been put in to clean up the Yamuna in the recent past. While the government is trying its best to preserve a clean Yamuna with various projects on hand, there are many individual efforts too. And many feel that more than sincerity, continuity helps. A religious leader from the Braj region, Ramesh Baba of Barsana in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district has announced a march along the Yamuna from Allahabad to Delhi in March next year to help raise awareness. He intends to mobilise people to clean the polluted river. Reports say that over 15,000 followers from all over the world and other religious leaders would join the march. Earlier this year, in October, before the Commonwealth Games, students from various schools joined hands to clean the river. Interestingly, there have been projects under the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) and the DJB (Delhi Jal Board) that are meant to clean the river of life. The attempts may have been several and sincere, but does getting down and dirty really help? Or does it end as the cleanliness drive concludes? Deena Nath Singh, programme officer, Sahbhagi Sikshan Kendra, who worked on the Yamuna Action Plan II, says that such initiatives definitely help in spreading awareness. “Public participation and awareness programmes that we undertook helped a lot in imparting knowledge about the benefits of a clean river, especially among students,” says Nath, talking about the steps that the kids living on the banks of Yamuna started taking after the project ended. “After the solid-waste management awareness program, we noticed a huge change. The waste level at the banks had reduced. Now, in certain areas where awareness has been more, the level of pollution in the river has reduced,” he adds. But not everyone agrees with it. Some feel that these awareness programmes or cleanliness drives at an individual level, work temporarily. “Till the time it’s happening, people work towards it, but soon after they forget,” says Aman Panwar, a 22-year-old law student, who has actively participated in many cleanliness programmes. Aman thinks that to motivate people to keep working for such causes, initiatives should be taken up to make those who are concerned hooked. “The major problem with people here is that they forget their responsibilities once there is no one to remind them,” he adds. However, Manoj Misra, convener, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, has a different opinion. He thinks that individual efforts go a long way. “If not many, such efforts at least inspire a few to take up a cause,” he says, talking about the Punjab-based leader Baba Balbir Singh, who was successful in cleaning river Kali Bein. “But one such effort would not be that helpful as a combined time and again drive,” he adds.