HOLY BLACK

It was me with my Dad on one occasion when we went to receive few friends who had never been to India until recently at the airport and soon after they arrived they were met with the beauty of Delhi and its surroundings. But it was while they were plying on magnificent DND flyover when I was left speechless when one of them asked: Isn't this that "holy" river Yamuna...oh! This has gone so "black". Isn't Delhi Govt. doing anything about it?
I couldn't say much but I found myself pondering over his two words : Holy and Black.
I noticed that Yamuna River has been reduced to a dirty and polluted canal thanks to the tonnes of sewage that makes its way to what has become an apology for a river. DESPITE DOZENS of flyovers, towering buildings, huge multiplexes, fun parks, metro and much more, India’s capital New Delhi is not at par with other major cities of the world. A number of reasons are behind Delhi’s ailing position and pollution of river Yamuna is one of them.From big industries and factories to people living in big colonies, slums and rural areas, all pollute the river with impunity because of untreated water. Increasing pollution of the Yamuna has now become an international issue and a cause of concern for environmentalists.A number of projects were launched by the government to clean the Yamuna, but till date nothing has happened. Not only the government, but also several NGOs are working to clean the Yamuna. Yet the situation is worsening by the day. You can’t stand for even a few minutes on the Yamuna’s bank at some places due to the foul smell of the stagnant water.Recently, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit claimed that Yamuna would be cleaner up to 70 per cent before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Ironically, the Delhi government itself submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that the Yamuna clean drive would not be complete before 2012. In its affidavit, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said that the river remained a ‘sewage canal’ due to the 143 unauthorised colonies, 1,080 slums and villages that present a problem in collection of sewage water that flows into the Yamuna untreated.
I wonder If this goes to continue with the same pace we are not too far from our own devastation or extirpation. I don't know If I can do much about it but I would want all those of you who go through my blog ...please save water,save environment,plant as many trees as you can ,keep your surroundings clean..and help me in my endeavor to get this message across as many people as you can.
One small step by all of us can save the world. Let us all promise to make it a better world.
Last but not the least, London’s Thames River was as polluted as Yamuna in the 1960s, but the excellent clean up model was successful in cleaning up the river. We can expect the same from the DJB’s new project and hopefully we will see a clean Yamuna by 2012 but let's just not depend completely on DJB...Nothing can be done unless or until we acknowledge the problem and lend a helping hand to it.