Niranjana-Phalgu river flowing in Jharkhand and Bihar, considered holy by Hindus and Buddhists, has attracted the attention of a Buddhist monk who wants to save it.
Bhante Tissavro, who heads the Bodh Gaya-based Budh Avsesh Bachao Abhiyaan (Save Buddhist Relics Campaign), currently touring Maharashtra and Karnataka, is on a mission to drum up support for the constitution of an authority to save the river.
The river, which takes birth at Chhatra Hills in Jharkhand, enters Bihar at Bodh Gaya, flows through Gaya and ends at Jehanabad in Bihar. Besides the Bodh Gaya, the revered Buddhist centre, several Buddhist monuments and viharas are located on the banks of the river.
Several important Hindu temples, including the Vishnu temple, Gaya temple, and others are on the banks of the river at Gaya.
“There is flow in the river only for three months during the rainy season. Rest of the year whatever flows is sewage from the towns and cities all along the banks. It has become dumping space for municipal waste,” said Bhante Tissavro. Devout Hindus who come to Gaya to make Pitru Paksha offering are forced to offer it, literally, in a drain, he added.
The formation of a river authority, on the lines of what is in place to clean Ganga, and taking up the construction of small barrages and check dams all along the river in Jharkhand and Bihar would also help the farmers on both sides of the banks, he said. “I had at one time seen the river in full flow throughout the year and it is a pathetic sight now,” he said.
Bhante Tissavro said he had taken up the issue with the Chief Ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand, besides petitioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now he hopes to persuade people to help him in the cause.
