Dredging of Ganga to begin near Varanasi

Using the river for commercial activities will degrade it, say environmentalists

February 16, 2015 12:44 am | Updated December 16, 2016 03:50 pm IST - LUCKNOW:

Visakhapatnam:21/09/2007: 
Boats anchored along the banks on Ganga while tourists enjoy a boat ride in Varanasi, one of Hinduisms holiest cities.---Photo:K.R. Deepak

Visakhapatnam:21/09/2007: Boats anchored along the banks on Ganga while tourists enjoy a boat ride in Varanasi, one of Hinduisms holiest cities.---Photo:K.R. Deepak

As part of the plan to promote the Ganga as a waterway for commercial activities, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is set to start dredging, on a pilot basis, the 10-km stretch between Saidpur and Ghazipur, near Varanasi.

Plans are also being readied to dredge the 1,600-km stretch between Varanasi and Haldia, on the banks of the Hooghly, in West Bengal.

While the Rs. 10-crore contract for dredging the 10-km stretch has been given to a multinational company, the IWAI has prepared a Rs.4,200-crore project, to be executed with the World Bank’s assistance, to remove silt from the Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia so as to develop an “integrated river water freight corridor” with road and rail links at crucial points, official sources say.

In the first phase, the IWAI will start dredging next month between Varanasi and Patna to remove 3.25 lakh cubic metres of silt.

Around six multinational firms have carried out surveys, some pointing to technical difficulties in the work because the depth of river on this stretch is less at several places, the sources say.

However, environmental activists are worried that the Centre’s “disastrous” plan will further degrade the river.

Using the Ganga for commercial activities will deal a “death blow” to it, warns V.N. Mishra, head of the Sankat Mochan Foundation, a trust that works for the cleaning and revival of the river. The commercial exploitation, he argues, will cause the river and its eco-system an irreversible loss.

“The government should focus on cleaning the river and maintaining its natural flow... Instead, plans are being made to construct dams at every 100 km, which will kill it. The Ganga is the lifeline of 40 crore people. Make efforts to clean it. By just ensuring that not a single drop of sewage and pollutant goes into the river, we can address 90 per cent of the problems,” he says.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.