KANPUR: Yamuna, the largest
tributary of the Ganga river, is all set to get an "eco health"
revamp in the region, courtesy UK-based Thames River Restoration Trust (TRRT)
and a number of local organizations working in the field of eco-restoration of
waterbodies.
Spearheading the idea is a Delhi-based organization, the Peace Institute Charitable Trust (PICT), that has launched an extensive restoration programme at Pachnada, the confluence of five rivers -- Yamuna, Chambal, Kunwari, Pahuj and Sindh -- in Bhareh town of Etawah to develop community river restoration techniques with support from local groups, especially the 'Nadi Mitra Mandali' (Friends of the River).
"The project, known as 'river twinning', covers 10 grids (group of villages located on either side of the river), including the Panchnada Yamuna Nadi Mitra Mandali near Bhareh, on a 1,400-km-long stretch of the Yamuna in regions falling in Uttarakhand, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh," said PICT director Manoj Mishra.
The other grids across Yamuna are Kharadi, Katapathar, Kanalsi, Ramra, Ovah, Gadaya, Batesar, Hamirpur and Ekdara, he added.
The project has been supported by the Thames River Restoration Trust (TRRT), winner of the Theiss International Riverprize fund, on behalf of a number of organisations involved in restoration work on the Thames in the UK. The TRRT has committed to using the Riverprize funds to develop new and better techniques for river restoration which could be used by local community groups on rivers all around the world.
"The activities include plantation, promotion of natural farming, eco-sanitation, river health and village health monitoring and proper management of solid waste," said Sita Ram Taigor, who is working with PICT and presently handling five grids of the Yamuna, from Mathura to Fatehpur, and monitoring and providing technical support to the 'Nadi Mitra Mandali' of the grids.
The project has support and participation of many government and non-government organizations, including the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). WWF India has also been working to help restore the lower Yamuna to benefit the people and wildlife as part of the "Thames and Ganges Twinning Partnership". "The project will benefit some of the world's most endangered freshwater wildlife, including gharial, crocodile, Ganges river dolphin and Ganges river turtle," Taigor added."Pachnada presents an extensive view of sylvan beauty during the rainy season and also in the winters. The region is a home to a number of exotic species of flora and fauna that need to be protected," he added.
"An outcome of PICT's partnership with local groups at 14 sites has been the development and testing of a People's River Health Index that has not only determined the state of the river at different sites, but also identified the actions needed for river restoration," Taigor elaborated.
Elaborating on the activities, Taigor said: "The actions include training local people in basic river and catchment monitoring techniques, environmental education of school children and providing sustainable energy use techniques at the local level."
"A massive plantation drive is underway at Pachnada Yamuna Nadi Mitra Mandali grid these days and we are getting a very good response from the local community, besides schoolchildren who are actively assisting us in fulfilling our mission of restoring the Yamuna," Taigor told TOI.
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