NEW DELHI: By the time Yamuna reaches Vrindavan-Mathura-Gokul, it is essentially a stream of sludge. A holy dip could leave you sick. A group of sadhus from the Mathura-Vrindavan area along with farmers with plots on the river-course started on a march from Allahabad in March and, 45 days later, arrived in Delhi. They demand Delhi's waste not be emptied into the river but taken through a separate channel up to the Agra canal. Simultaneously, more fresh water should be released in the Yamuna at Hathnikund. The group will stay parked at Jantar Mantar till the authorities agree and are holding a mahasabha on Friday.
The ideas aren't new. A high-powered committee formed by the Supreme Court recommended these measures in 1999. Predictably, no action was taken on the matter thereafter. The Maan Mandir Sewa Sansthan Trust – a religious organization based in Barsana, Mathura – after seeing their campaign against mining bear fruit, turned their attention to the river. They joined forces with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). The trust is concerned that the holy river is too polluted to deserve being called that. Taking a bath can be hazardous to health; aarti of the river has also stopped in places with the stink driving worshippers away.
The farmers' problems are different. Tubewells and borewells have replaced the river as sources of water and the water table is falling. "We get poisonous water even in our tubewells now," says Bhanu Pratap Singh of Etah, Uttar Pradesh. Wild animals like nilgai that roamed the infertile terrain on the sides and drank from the river now find its water too polluted. "They come to the cultivated land for water from the wells and destroy the crop in the process," says Singh.
BD Sharma, a surgeon based in Chicago, has come down to participate. "It's not a problem just for the practice of a religion but also for health reasons ," he says.
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