Revision as of 08:49, 13 March 2017

Pollution

2014: Sewage generated in the five riverine states along the Ganga, Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Carcinogenic waters?

A dip in Ganga may cause cancer

The Times of India TNN | Jun 25, 2014

HYDERABAD: A dip in river Ganga can possibly cause cancer. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that cleaning Ganga was his top priority but more needs to be done than expected.

The Department of Atomic Energy's National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (NCCM) in Hyderabad has tested water samples from the Ganga and found the river water contained carcinogens. The NCCM which functions under the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) collected water samples from the river during the Kumbha Mela in January 2013 and tested them.

It was found that the water collected by the devotees for puja contained Chromium 6. "Chromium is essential as well as toxic. The toxic form of chromium is hexavalent chromium. We have determined its content in the Ganga water collected during Kumbha Mela. It was 1 ng/ml, almost 50 times the permissible limit," NCCM head Dr Sunil Jai Kumar said. Being exposed to such high levels of chromium can result in health hazards, including cancer.

The impurities were said to have mainly come from the Kanpur tanneries. "We have to develop technologies that can cleanse the Ganga of chemical impurities. It can be done," said Sunil Jai Kumar responding to a query. A C Sahayam, who heads the bulk analysis wing at NCCM, demonstrated the system of purification of water containing carcinogens.

Sunil Jai Kumar explained the functioning of the National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (NCCM). He said the NCCM had also developed fluoride testing kits with which visual detection of fluoride would be possible. The government had transferred the technology to different companies and the kits were made available to the public at low cost.

From hospital waste like X-ray films, CDs, and batteries, the centre has also developed a method to extract silver.

The NCCM, which conducted studies at Moula Ali in Hyderabad six months ago, found that groundwater contained 100 times mor

The Namami Gange programme/ 2015

Administrative hurdles along the course

Vishwa Mohan, BJP win may give Ganga a new life, Mar 13 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)

The progress of the Namami Gange programme, May 2015-Dec 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious `Namami Gange' [O Ganga, I salute you] programme is devised in such a way that the states would not have to directly implement and operate the projects, there are many issues for which the local administration has to act to make the mission a success in a time-bound manner.

The Centre had in May 2015 approved the flagship “Namami Gange“ programme which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga in a comprehensive manner. It has a budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore for five years (2015-20).

“Since Uttarakhand (from where the Ganga origi nates) will now be ruled by the same party in the state and at the Centre, it would hopefully be easier to bring all stakeholders on the same page,“ said an official.

He said maintaining uninterrupted flow of the river is a prerequisite for naturally cleaning the river, but the issue had failed to convince Uttarakhand which had been pushing for new dams on the Ganga -an obstacle to the flow.

Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, has to act against polluting industries and handle sewage at multiple levels before it is discharged into the river along its 1,000 km stretch. More than half of the river stretch passes through Uttarakhand and UP together.

Jharkhand is the third BJP-ruled state where the ongoing Ganga cleaning mission is at different stages of implementation. The other two states on the main stem of the river are Bihar (ruled by JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance) and West Bengal (ruled by Trinamool Congress).