When will clean water flow into Ganges?

KANPUR: Problem is yet not completely over. Sewage is still going into the river. The onus is being shifted to one another. But it is not the solution to the real dilemma. The mechanism is not proving to be effective. Despite all these bottlenecks, the hope has not dwindled.

When the big hurdle of tapping Sisamau Nullah has been done, other impediments could also be surmounted. When the sewer was found moving into the river through tapped Permat Nullah, state government departments’ claims appeared hollow in view of going down of sewage up to 2 Crore litres into the Ganges.

Contaminated water stream near Ganga Barrage remains a mystery. Neither JalKal department nor the Jal Nigam department nor the State Pollution Control Board has any genuine answer in this regard. Kuldip Mishra, CEO, UP Pollution Control Board, Kanpur Region, doubts that sewage was diverting and flowing from adjacent districts. The exact source was still not traced.

SK Sinha, General Manager, Jal Nigam thinks it is Jal Nigam that knows it better. The pumping station runs on its instructions while G Dwivedi, Project Manager, PCB Unit, said the Nullah seemed to start flowing directly into the river after the closure of the pumping machine.

Whatever it may be the work has to be done and the situation would be surely different after tapping of Guftar Ghat Nullah and Parmiya Ghat Nullah. These were on verge of completion. Muir Nullah and Nawabganj Nullah were already tapped.  

Meanwhile, there was also initiated sealing of tanneries running its big-sized drums above 50% capacity on Tuesday. The state pollution control board team faced immense opposition by the tannery owners but it succeeded in carrying out sealing of as many as 13 drums. So far a total of 307 drums have been sealed. The tanneries have been warned if these are found flouting norms the tannery will be put under seal for at least three months.