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Polluted Ganga overshadow annual Nag Nathiya festival
by Girish Kumar Dubey

     Varanasi: The annual Nag Nathiya festival held here recently looked different when it was utilised as a platform to draw attention of the public towards the gravity of pollution in River Ganga, considered the most sacred river by Hindus. The occasion witnessed a congregation of over 5,000 Lord Krishna devotees on the famous Tulsi Ghat on the bank of River Ganga. People from various parts of the country arrived to attend the ancient "Nag Nathaiya" festival, marked to celebrate Krishna's victory over Kaliya Nag, a mythological monstrous snake mentioned in Mahabharata, the epic. Organisers of the festival created a parallel to the killing of the monstrous snake by Lord Krishna with the modern day hazards of factories polluting the river Ganga --- depicting the snake as the pollutant and Lord Krishna as the cleanser. "After seeing Yamuna polluted, Lord Krishna decided to destroy the snake, and this festival "Nag Nathaiya" commemorates that event. Through this festival, we wanted to create awareness about the need to stop these polluting factories and drains from dumping sewage into the river Ganga," said Virbhadra Mishra, one of the festival organisers. A number of priests performed prayers Lord Krishna with rituals as a part of the festival. Devotees comprising people of all age groups also took part in the Puja. They cheered the youngsters who enacted various scenes from Krishna's life. Meanwhile, various studies have observed that Ganga is among one of the most polluted rivers in the world and its water, which was once considered a cure to many ailments, can pose health hazards. A multi-donor funded Ganga Action Plan has attempted to clean the river but has not been able to make much difference to the quality of water. Ganga runs its course of over 2,500 kilometres from Gangotri in the Himalayas to Ganga Sagar in the Bay of Bengal through 29 cities with population over 1,00,000 ('class-I cities'), 23 cities with population between 50,000 and 1,00,000 ('class-II cities'), and about 48 towns. In 1984 (December), under the direction of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Department of Environment prepared an action plan for immediate reduction of pollution load on the river Ganga. In 1995 (April), the Cabinet approved the GAP (Ganga Action Plan) as a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme. The Ganga Action Plan aimed to tackle 2,794 mld (Million litres per day) of sewage; 882 mld under the GAP-I and 1912 mld under the GAP-II. The GAP aimed to tackle 2794 mld (Million litres per day) of sewage; 882 mld under the GAP-I and 1912 mld under the GAP-II. The NRCD (National River Conservation Directorate) records put the estimates of total sewage generation in towns along river Ganga and its tributaries as 5044 mld. Delhi alone accounts for 2270 mld. To achieve the objective of pollution abatement, the Gang Action Plan took up core and non-core schemes. The core sector schemes consist of interception & diversion schemes and STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants), designed to tackle 'point pollution', i.e. pollution that is from measurable sources such as drains, sewage pumping stations and sewage systems. Non-core schemes comprise low cost sanitation schemes, river front development schemes, electric and improved wood crematoria; and, tackle non-point, non-measurable pollution, such as dumping of solid waste and open defecation, dumping of unburnt / half- burnt dead bodies.
-Oct 28, 2006