– Sahithi Kalyanam
India being in the top 10 largest countries of the world has a vast number of rivers and many more tributaries. In Indian tradition every aspect of nature is considered sacred, The Sun, The Moon, Rain, Trees and plants, Animals, air, wind, water and even stones. Each and every part of nature is respected. Rivers particularly are very sacred to the people. It is said that taking a bath in these holy rivers washes away the sins one has made. Living in a country with traditions like this, we are all witnessing the destruction of all such beautiful rivers.River Ganges, the longest river in India is now completely polluted and is not appropriate for use. In Varanasi, the corpses which are almost half burnt are just released into the waters. Approximately 1 billion litres of untreated sewage wateris dumped daily into the Ganges. Apart from that dumping of plastic and garbage into the river has polluted it to a great extent. River Yamuna, on the banks of which Taj mahal in Agra was built is also one of the most polluted rivers now. Industrial effluents, domestic waste and dumping leaded to a lot of damage to the river Yamuna.
Any civilization or any city starts from a river itself. So does the story of Hyderabad. The city of Hyderabad is named after Quli qutub shah’s lady love Hyder mahal (Baghmati) it is said. Hyderabad was built by Quli qutub shah on the banks of river musi. Now the river is dying a slow death contaminating all its surroundings. The flow of musi is now by pollution due to industrial effluents, domestic waste, and sewage from the city. All we see of musi now is the small canals and drainages in parts of city; it has been polluted beyond repair. The Godavari River and the river Kauveri are also in a danger. Many fresh Water Rivers are also being polluted. The marine life in such rivers is in the verse of extinction. If the pollution of rivers continues in the same pace, maybe we cannot find any fresh Water and all we will have left will be the canals and drains. There are many factors that lead to pollution of water. Untreated garbage is one of the major factors leading to pollution. Such garbage is dumped into rivers and contaminates the whole area. 80% of untreated sewage is released into rivers in India. The other major factor is the industrial effluents which are released into the rivers. Many poisonous substances are also released they cause permanent loss to humans, plants, animals and marine life. Polluted rivers have a major effect on agriculture also. The whole crop gets affected and eventually the soil becomes unfit for agriculture. The germs and bacteria breedin areas with stagnant water in areas where the flow is diminished; people living on the banks get affected with water borne diseases. Bengaluru is now rapidly moving towards the day zero with water scarcity almost like Cape Town in South Africa. It is a very terrifying change that we are witnessing. If the world will ever witness another world war, it will be for water it is said. Imagine another world war, this time the affects will be beyond imagination.
We should bring pressure on the government to bring in alternatives instead of dumping the wastes into rivers and water bodies. To overcome all this each and every individual needs to put in efforts. Individually the outcome may be very minute but it is a step to a great success. We should all as a country learn to save our own resources. Just praying won’t bring us good life. In fact without clean water there won’t be any life. We follow all kinds of rituals and beliefs but we forget the values that they preach. Nature is treated as mother and sacred. Which means it is to be treated with respect and care. It is our responsibility to save our sacred resources for a better future.
outofthebox 