GANGA
RIVER
GANGA - The Ganges, above all is the river of India, which has held India's heart captive and
drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. The story of the Ganges, from
her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India's civilization and culture, of the
rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man…………..
The Ganges is the second largest river on the Indian subcontinent by discharge. The 2,510 km
(1,560 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It has long
been considered holy by Hindus and worshiped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It has also
been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals
(such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Allahabad, Murshidabad, Baharampur and Kolkata) have been
located on its banks. The Ganges Basin drains 1,000,000-square-kilometre (390,000 sq mi) and
supports one of the world's highest densities of humans. The average depth of the river is
52 feet (16 m), and the maximum depth, 100 feet (30 m). The many symbolic meanings of the
river on the Indian subcontinent were spoken to in 1946 by Jawaharlal Nehru in his Discovery of
India.
In Allahabad , the Ganga water is used for Industrial and
irrigation purposes.
The level of ganga does not remain same through out the year .It
decreses a lot from March to July.
River beds are clearly seen. during peak Mela days in January to
March .There is great cry for raising the water level which is
sometimes done by releasing the water from Narora dam.
Allahabad is a holy place in Hinduism.
The Ganga is joined by numerous rivers such as
the Kosi, Son, Gandaki and Ghaghra, the Ganges forms a formidable
current in the stretch between Allahabad and Malda in West Bengal
Ganga is polluted in many ways in Allahabad. City drain water goes into big drains
which flow towards Ganga in Rajapur ,Muradabad, Rasulabad and Daraganj. Some
sewage treatment plants has been established one is near daraganj besides bakshi
band.
Thousands of pilgrims and local people go for bathing due to religious and
superstitious beliefs. They carry with them waste of sacred ceremonies for flowing in
Ganga. They carry with their eatables in polythene bags etc which thrown at banks.
During their bath people use plastic containers and bottles which is left in the river
itself. Hundred of piligrims get their
heads shaved off on the bank. Many public toilets are made on the bank. The waste
of all these things is led into the river water. No proper action or steps are taken by
the administration.
Besides all this the industrial wastes include chemicals which are hazardous to health
are also led into the industry. Dead bodies of animals and human dead kids are
often flowed into Ganga .Dead body residue is thrown into the sacred river.
All the above things go worse during Magh or Kumbh Mela in the months of January
to March every year when there is congregations of thousands piligrims who camp
on its bank. Many saints and akharas come to the city .They perform various rituals
and ceremonies which results in degradation of water. On main occasions like Basant
Panchmi, Makar Sankranti, Shivratri etc the crowd may extend up to 80000 to
100000.These many people take “DUBKI” in Ganga simultaneously .During all these
things they release sops ,detergents etc. Thus a lot of waste gets accumulated
during this time in water. People are careless about all these things .(Superstition)
People believe that a Ganga is a holy river and it cannot get polluted due to all these
things. It can absorb all the impurities in it .If some body opposes then people on the
name of religion suppress the opposition .Sometimes it also becomes a political
issue.
Pollution of Ganga :
* the river banks are made dirty by the activities of humans...
* people come to take holy dip in Ganga but these pollute the river to an
unimaginable extent.
The plastics are usually left behind...the carry bags used and bottles etc..
* Industries located near Ganga or rivers in general..... they r located ther usually
for usage of water from rivers but ..they also expel many wastes in river directly
without
proper treatment.
* effecting the maintenance of river Ganga. Fishes get killed, microbes in water
actually cannot decompose huge amount of wastes .Decomposition takes place only
to some extent
. * the fund allotted towards the cleaning process is also not used at all... it goes in
pockets of our corrupted ministers.
the people who have ganga as their livelihood are very much tensed about the worse
condition of ganga... they r unhappy with the government ,according to them..the
cleaning process takes place only if some shooting or something like that is going
on..like the visit of ministers with media person...that too it does not continue even for
days..
* slowly the river is getting shallower ...the
decrease in water level can b seen clearly
* According to the interview of people on
Ganga shore it has been noticed that they all
are concerned
about the pollution but they cannot do much.
It was also noticed that they try thier level bast
to
keep the river clean. The boatman ‘Akhilesh’
who took us to the Sangam on his boat told us
and other passengers not to throw anything
in river... they try thier level best to save the
sacred river.
* Another interviewed person told us that the
main pollution is not because of
untidiness on shore but due to the sewage
water of the city and wastes of factories
wastes being directed to river.
The worshipers do not pollute the river much
,it can b controlled very easily but the other
main factors can only b controlled by the
management/ government,NGOs.
* if this continues for longer period then it will
lead to a scenario where we will not b able
to even stand on the shore of our sacred river
GANGA. it may become like a huge gutter (
which
is the current situation of many rivers)
the situation is most miserable with Ganga
because it is visited by lakhs and lakhs of
people every year
..it is the lifeline of north Indian states like UP n
many other parts.
* as the citizen of India it is our duty to create
an awareness ...how to restore our river Ganga
and
•maintain it for further generations. Explain
the harmful effects to people and force and
fight with the
government to allot funds n use it in cleaning
of rivers..n giving some guidelines for the
factories for throwing the waste water
...sewage treatment before discarding in
river...etc..
Ganga and Yamuna both flow parallel till Allahabad and meet at Allahabad. But it is
clearly seen from pictures that condition of Yamuna
is lot better than Ganga.