Gandhinagar: 'Nadi Mahotsav' ( River Festival) was being organised from December 26 to 30 under the aegis of the Gujarat government. The government has selected four different themes like cleaning, patriotism, nature-environment and devotional-spiritual for the ongoing festival. In which cultural programmes are being organised at Sabarmati, Narmada and Tapi rivers, but the point is how this will benefit rivers or the environment?
After the construction of the riverfront at the River Sabarmati, pollution has come down from visitors' side, however, industries continue to pollute the river, therefore two months ago, the Gujarat High Court took suo moto cognizance of pollution in the Sabarmati river.
The government has taken up measures to reduce pollution by setting up a sewage treatment plant in Ahmedabad, but it has become only ornamental. Speaking to ETV Bharat, environmentalist Mahesh Pandya told that not a single sewage treatment plant was functioning in Ahmedabad. The State government, Gujarat Pollution Control Board and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation have been pulled up by the High Court on the pollution in the river.
Plans are afoot to launch 'aarti' at Narmada and Sabarmati rivers in Gujarat on the lines of 'Ganga aarti', but these 'aartis' will be offered on the banks of those rivers where there is no polluted water. If you really want to see the pollution of the Sabarmati river, you have to go to Gyaspur, but the government is hiding the pollution by organising cycling and marathons in unpolluted areas.
A report presented by the Ministry of Environment in Parliament says that 22 rivers in Gujarat are heavily polluted. And now, the onus lies on the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and State government to keep them clean, they are not doing their job. However, the river festival is not going to clean the rivers.
