50 Hry villages at risk from highly polluted Yamuna water
YAMUNANAGAR/KARNAL: Lives of thousands of villagers in about 50 villages in Yamunanagar and Karnal districts are at risk as pollutants in the Yamuna, one of Delhi’s main sources of water after river Ganga, have hit dangerous levels. Millions of litres daily (MLD) of sewage generated from thousands of factories and housing units in the industrial city of Yamunanagar is being discharged daily into a canal and from there into the river.
Many people have developed skin problems, the villagers say.
Yamunanagar’s sewage does not flow into the river passing by the city but is diverted through a canal into the river 80 km downstream near Karnal’s Nabipur village.
PEOPLE AT RISK
Travelling along the canal darkened by toxic waste and other effluents, this correspondent found it passed by 50 villages in the Khadar belt of both Yamunanagar and Karnal districts.
The high level of ground water in the region was also in the danger of contamination.
“We’re worried that this poisoned water has polluted the ground water in this belt and this is dangerous for our health, air, crops and soil”, said Praveen Kumar, a young farmer of Dabkoli village.
About 200 villagers in Dabokli had developed skin-related ailments, he said.
“We have discussed the problem with local MLA Karan Dev Kamboj and even met chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, but nobody has assured us of help. Now we’re alarmed as this discharge has started destroying our soil and ground water”, he added.
Even though Yamuna was selected under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) and the Union government had announced a slew of projects to save the river in 12 towns of Haryana, including Faridabad, Gohana, Karnal, Palwal, Panipat, Sonepat and Yamunanagar, nothing has been done so far.
When asked to comment, authorities claimed that projects had been initiated to deal with the problem.
‘A VERY SERIOUS MATTER’
Terming it “a very serious matter”, S Narayanan, member secretary, Haryana Pollution Control Board, said the problem was being studied under the Yamuna Action Plan”
“Samples have already been collected and we have sent the proposal to the National Green Tribunal. The study will be completed on time”, he added.
On what was being done to save the 50 villages, he said, the “entire problem will be sorted out once the plan is implemented.” Yamunanagar MC Commissioner Girish Arora also said a “plan was being prepared in consultation with the irrigation and public health departments to tap all remaining drains and take steps to mitigate this problem.”
“The project is in its infancy, technical issues are being sorted out. Then comes technical and administrative approval, arrangement of funds, e-tendering. The project will now see the light of the day”, he added.
TOO LATE?
Would it be too late by then? Farmers claimed that the waste water was affecting crops and vegetables in the low lying areas of both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where the river water was being used for cattle and crops.
“Our animals are falling sick but we do not have any other source of water for them,” said Iqbal, a villager, sitting on the riverbank at Nabipur Ghat, watching his cattle wade into the polluted water.
“We have heard that people in Delhi are drinking this water. The government should do something about the problem on humanitarian grounds”, he said.
More worryingly, however, officials of the state pollution control board and Yamunanagar municipal corporation did not know since when the waste was being dumped in the Yamuna near Nabipur village.
Irrigation department officials, however, said, they had dug up the canal five years ago when the Yamuna was registering high levels of water pollution and built it parallel to the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) from Yamunanagar to Radaur town close by.
From there it was linked to another ‘escape’ drain at Dhanora where excess water from the WYC flowed out.
Talking to HT, Superintending Engineer of irrigation department SD Sharma said, the Yamunanagar drain merged with the Dhanora escape. “If the water is getting polluted then action should be taken up with concerned department,” he said.
WATER NOT ‘TREATED’
When this correspondent went to the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Jammu Colony on the outskirts of Yamunangar, from where the canal originated, he found that the STP has a capacity of only 25 MLD, whereas 150 MLD liquid waste was discharged every day from the twin cities of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri.
Though it was called an STP the water was not actually treated by being stored in ponds and filtered.
“We just segregate the plastic and other hard waste from the liquid waste and discharge it in the drain”, said Munish Kumar, person in charge of the plant.
MILLIONS OF LITRES OF SEWAGE GENERATED FROM FACTORIES IN YAMUNANAGAR IS DISCHARGED IN RIVER