Devotees leave water bodies polluted in Kangra region

Ravinder Sood 

Palampur, November 29

From mid-September to December end, several festivals, religious discourses, ‘kar sevas’ and spiritual camps are held and celebrated in the region every year. Devotees from northern India visit shrines and religious centres situated in Kangra, Jwalamukhi, Chintpurni and Chamunda. They make reckless use of water bodies leaving these badly polluted. Open air defecation by campers and pilgrims on the river banks and periphery of ponds, tanks and rivulets becomes rampant.

A study conducted by a team of medical experts along with a local NGO, People’s Voice, reveals that human excreta in water bodies can lead to rise in diseases.

The concept of the Swachh Bharat Mission was expanded to include personal hygiene, sanitation, safe water, garbage disposal, proper water disposal, etc. The main objective of the Swachh Bharat Mission is to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas. Therefore, much stress was laid on setting up rural sanitary marts, developing low cost toilet units and installing e-toilets near parks and places of tourist importance were suggested as priorities.

However, the study reveals that despite spending crores of rupees and providing subsidies and incentives under various Centrally sponsored schemes in respect to environmental sanitation, no objective was achieved.