NGO to hold ‘Walk for Yamuna’

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, December 3

KBS, a non-governmental organisation, will organise a ‘Walk for Yamuna’ campaign to highlight the rising water pollution and need to clean the Yamuna river passing through Faridabad and Palwal.

The campaign, involving a 75-km walk, will start from the Delhi border on December 17 and conclude at Hasanpur in Palwal district on December 23, it has been revealed.

Dr Shiv Singh Rawat, a retired Superintending Engineer in the Irrigation Department of Haryana, said the walk not only aims at addressing the issue of river contamination, but also focuses on highlighting the need to take effective measures on the basis of the available technology and related aspects. Rawat said the drive is expected to create awareness among masses and the need to launch a suitable plan in order to save the river from further contamination.

He said the river irrigates around 3,66,223 sq km basins in the region and fulfills the drinking water needs of around 128 million people, comprising over 70 percent of the supply needs of Delhi’s National Capital Region. “Unfortunately, with an increase in the population and industrialisation, it has emerged as one of the most polluted rivers in the country, owing to the release of industrial effluents, municipal sewage, untreated solid waste (plastics, bottles, polythene bags, religious items, dead bodies) and agricultural runoff (fertilizers and pesticides) from the cities and towns located on its banks, making it a highly polluted drain,” he claimed.

This has not only adversely affected the aquatic life but also resulted in increased health risks such as cancer in the adjoining areas.