God's Own Constituency (7)

                                                Issues in Varanasi election

    A modern saptarishi and a river's thousand names

Varanasi.

The Ganga has one thousand names ( sahasranama) all meaning purity and cleanliness but unlike the past it enters the third millennium with only one name -- pollution.

Daily, at the crack of dawn, one man takes a dip in the river reciting Gangasahasranam knowing fully well that the polluted water could be injurious to health. It only strengthens his resolve to work for making the river pollution free. He is Professor Veer Bhadra Misra, who has been tirelessly fighting to restore Ganga to its pristine purity.

He has been recently selected by the international news magazine Time as one of the ''Seven Heroes of Planet.''

He says ''I owe it all to mother Ganga.'' Prof Misra, who comes from the priestly class and is the mahant of the famous Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi, is a scientist by temper. He is a civil engineering professor at the Banaras Hindu University.

He has been named as one of the modern saptarishi (seven adepts) for his efforts to save the planet from environmental degradation.

It is perhaps for the first time that an international media organisation has prepared a list of top environmental activists on a global basis. ''In honouring me, they reminded the world community that cleaning of the Ganga should be a global concern. Ganga will inspire us to preserve all the fresh water bodies the world over'', Prof Misra said.

He had started his campaign to check the growing pollution in the river nearly two decades ago, much before environmental concerns became 'fashionable' among the elite. His efforts finally attracted the attention of the central government to Ganga's plight. The then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi launched the ambitious Ganga Action Plan in 1986.

Sitting in the living room of his house just a few yards from the river, Prof Mishra is busy attending telephone calls congratulating him for the award.

His only regret is that the first phase of the Ganga Action Plan has not achieved significant success. ''The only consolation is that the pollution has not increased from pre-plan levels,'' he says.

The professor had received the ''Global-500 roll of honour'' instituted by the United Nations Environment Agency at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janerio in 1992. He is also a member of an expert committee constituted by the central government to evaluate the work and progress of the Ganga Action Plan and for suggesting measures for improvement.

Prof Misra says that the pollution problem of the Ganga is vastly different from that of the rivers of developed countries where chemical pollution is the major challenge. Fortunately, pollution in the Ganga is mainly biological.

''If the developed countries can overcome the problem of chemical pollution in their rivers, we, in India, can certainly check biological pollution which is largely caused by municipal sewage and other human activities,'' he adds.

Prof Misra says much depends on the success of the Ganga Action Plan. ''If we succeed in making the Ganga pollution free, then this experience can be extended to the other rivers too.''

''We should fix a modest and feasible goal. As the anti-pollution measures require huge resources, we should not think of making the river pollution free in all its thousands of miles course. We should concentrate our efforts on special stretches where people gather in large numbers for bathing and other cultural or religious activities,'' he added.

He named six such stretches along the river-500 metre upstream and Downstream: Gangotri, Lakshman Jhula (Rishikesh) to Kankhal (Hardwar), Shukratal to Garhmukteshwar, Brahmavarta to Siddhanath (Kanpur), Shivkuti to Ranhaiyaghat (Allahabad) and Ramnagar to Adikeshavghat (Varanasi).

''These stretches, if polluted, would affect the health of a much larger number of people who gather there. Since these places are closely linked to the traditional beliefs of our countrymen, they should be preserved as symbols of sentiment and models for deification'', he adds.

The expert committee had expressed the view that technology adopted in the first phase of the Ganga Action Plan was not an ideal one. ''Over reliance on pumping of sewage should have been avoided and technical preference should be given to carriage of sewage by the force of gravity to the maximum extent possible,'' it had suggested.

Prof Misra feels that the oxidation technology pond with suitable retention time is capable of reducing various types of pollution.

( Mahantji passed away in 2013)