The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has ordered a quick investigation into the deaths reportedly caused by the consumption of the “contaminated and poisonous” waters of the Krishna and the Hindon rivers in the villages on their banks in western Uttar Pradesh.
On the directive from the PMO, the Water Resources, Ganga Conservation and River Development Ministry, in a letter dated November 17, asked the Chairman, Central Ground Water Board, to submit a report on the issue.
The PMO issued the directive after the Doaba Paryavaran Samiti, a non-governmental organisation in western Uttar Pradesh, petitioned it, highlighting cases of deaths and diseases caused by the consumption of waters of rivers such as the Kali, the Krishna and the Hindon in the region.
A former senior scientist of the Haryana Pollution Control Board, Chandraveer Singh, says independent studies have shown that the waters of these three rivers have become poisonous from untreated effluents released into them from paper mills and slaughterhouses.
“Villagers in western Uttar Pradesh districts of Baghpat, Saharanpur, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar are suffering from cancer, deformities, hepatitis and several other grave diseases after consuming the groundwater, which has been contaminated by water seeping from these polluted rivers. Hundreds of people have died of cancer and other grave diseases in villages in the region,” said Dr. Singh, who heads the NGO.
The National Green Tribunal issued a show-cause notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Pollution Control Board after The Hindu published a report highlighting cases of cancer deaths in Gangnauli and other villages in Baghpat and other western Uttar Pradesh districts.
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board is yet to file its reply in the National Green Tribunal over the issue of contamination in the Kali, the Krishna and the Hindon.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), however in its affidavit before the tribunal, said the waters of the Hindon did not meet the prescribed standards and was unfit for bathing.
After monitoring the water quality of the Hindon at Saharanpur, Meerut and Ghaziabad, the Board declared: “The analytical results of river Hindon reveals that water quality of Hindon does not meet the prescribed standard of primary water quality criteria for bathing water under Environment (Protection) rules, 1986”.
