Appeal for Varuna

Appeal for Varuna

Dear all,

Greetings from HAMARI VARUNA ABHIYAN (Save the Varuna moovement) , Varanasi(India). Varuna is the famous river of Varanasi.World’s oldest and holy city Varanasi was named on this holy river. In hindu mythology and history we have got the reference of river Varuna. Varuna starts from melhum at phulpur in Allahabad District. It flows from Bhadohi ,Mirzapur ,Jounpur, enters in varanasi, and ends in river ganga at sarai mohana. Its total length is about106 kms.

Varanasi is also an ancient name, found in both the Buddhist Jataka tales and in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. From the pali version of this name –baranasi- comes the corrupted name Banaras, by which the city is most widely known today. Varanasi sits between the Varana river ,which flows into the ganges on the north and the Asi river, which joins the Ganges on the south . Varanasi stretches along the river between the two. According to the Padma Puran ‘The Varana and the Asi are two rivers, set there by Gods. Between them is a holy land and there is none more excellent on earth.”

Since 1980, Varuna was recognized as lifeline of Varanasi. It’s water was very medicated and its river bank were famous for medicated plants like Brahmi, punarnava, sarpgandha,juri, sankhpuspi, satavar and ghritkumari. It maintained the water level of varanasi, which is now a days at 3rd strata. The farmers of this area used its water for drinking, irrigation and cattle. But now, the total scenario has changed, Varuna has became the most polluted river of India, there is no any living things even parasites also in it. Varuna is ailing and becoming a garbage tank. the impact of all these things are shown. Due to these, the ground water level is going at downiest level. Pollution is being high and a holy lifeline river is dying.

Save the Varuna movement (Hamari Varuna Abhiyan) is a joint effort of some Civil Societies, who are involve in social activities in Varanasi and nearby aras . prayash Foundation Trust, Centre for Social Development society & Hamari Varuna Samiti are playing the major roles in this movement. Except then, many other VOs, NGOs and institutions like Water Community, Social Vision, Computer institute for Management System(CIMS), Dr. Shambhunath singh Research Foundation(SRF) , Premchand Margdarsan Kendra, Manav Seva Samiti , Prerna Kala Manch, Tarumitra are supporting us. We have decided to work on Varuna revival since last 3 years, when we saw that Varuna river is ailing from its source and it was being a sever . due to our efforts Commissnor Varanasi ordered to chek it. By our meetings and awareness camps Polithine is avoid by the native people. Schools & Colleges are making the plantation programe for it . we are crating a social pressure on Govt. of U.P. to make a green belt & oxygen Bank on both sides of this river especially in Varanasi city from Chokaghat to civil court. By this way there will be a beautiful and visible pollution free zone in this cultural city. We are planning to dig the riverbed and use this place for boating and water transport also. For this purpose we have demanded from Govt. of U.P. to make a pukka ghat at chokaghat.

We the people of save varuna movement are trying to revive the varuna with our best efforts. We have taken it as challenge, but our resources are very limited. Now days ,we are creating a public awareness through camps. Our sub convener Surya Bhan is on padyatra along with river Varuna and creating a good rapport about Varuna’ cleanness and revival. Our convener Dr. Vyomesh Chitravansh is trying to attract the people and activists on this problem. As a Executive member of National Committee on ailing rivers, he presented the problem of Varuna in The South Asian Convention of Ailing & Dead Rivers at New Delhi on July 8th, 2007. He is fighting for Varuna at state, national & international level. He is a good journalist and advocate from Varanasi. By his effort Varuna is kept in top 5 of ailing rivers of India.In coming period we are making plan to dig Varuna riverbed and to plantation on its both side with the help of native people. We are going to file a PIL in Allahabad High Court for Varuna in the light of Court’s orders.

For all these effort, we are expecting your help, support and contribution. Our humble appeal to all of you that please Give your full support through the moral, financial and other contributions to Save the Varuna and save the lifeline of Varanasi. Keep in touch.
Please forward this massage to your contacts, it will your support for our efforts

You may contact us on following numbers:-

-Dr. Vyomesh Chitravansh, convener,
Hamari Varuna Abhiyan,
c/o Prayash Foundation Trust,
SH3/18.B-4N, Sharda Vihar,
Meerapur (Basahi), Varanasi-221003 (India)
Email:vyomc@sify.com;forum_flash@sify.com
Cell. 91-94509608510; 91-9794254579

Surya Bhan, Sub Convener, HVA
c/oCentre for Social Development society
Sh8/40P-1, Veer Nagar Calony, Shivpur koat,
Shivpur, Varanasi.(India)
Email:csds@sify.com
Cell. 91-9452709385

Ajai Srivastava
c/o Hamari Varuna Samiti
S24/7 Taktakpur, Varanasi-221002,(India)

Workshop discusses on health impacts of wastewater irrigation

Workshop discusses on health impacts of wastewater irrigation

By Dr. Abhay Kumar
Published in toxicslink.org, 07/05/2007

Delegates discussed on the heavy metal contamination in food due to irrigation water getting contaminated with industrial wastewater in a workshop titled "Citizen's forum to discuss the health threats from wastewater irrigation in Varanasi" held on April 3, 2007 at Indian Medical Association (IMA) Hall in Varanasi.

The workshop was organised by Toxics Link in partnerships with IMA, Varanasi branch and FRIENDS, an NGO working in Varanasi. It was a part of the ongoing project "Contaminated irrigation water and food safety for the urban and periurban poor: Appropriate measures for monitoring and control from field research in India and Zambia"which Toxics Link is conducting along with University of Sussex, Benaras Hindu University and Delhi University. The workshop was well attended with more than sixty participants representing government, medical fraternity, academia, civil society, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Rotary Club and others expressing their outrage on the whole range of issues brought forth by this project.

The workshop began with a brief welcome note from the President, IMA, Varanasi branch, followed by a brief overview of the project activities by Ganesh Pangare. Dr. Madhoolika Agarwal of Benaras Hindu University (BHU) shared the lab findings of food contamination from wastewater irrigation including the source-contamination map and Dr. Abhay Kumar of Toxics Link shared the outcomes of health survey with focus on heavy metal impacts.

Dr. Rana Gopal Singh presented on various impacts of heavy metals on health with a focus on kidney functioning. He also dwelt on how Indian traditional medicinal system uses some heavy metals impacts thereof.

The presentations evoked sharp responses from participants. The debate started with one of the participants pointing that inaccessibility of safe drinking water is a greater concern than the wastewater irrigation and its various implications. At this point, organisers intervened and said that while drinking water is an important concern, there is no point in pitting one against the other.

One of the doctors present in the workshop lamented the fact that water, whether drinking water or wastewater, is among the least priority areas for political parties. It is a sorry state of affairs that even now there is no law or policy on groundwater and drinking water and it is a mere point of academic discussion. He also said that lack of coordination between various organisations and sectors is most appalling.

A professor from BHU then added that the need for political approaches is fine but that cannot replace individual's contributions and doctors would have a major role to play in this regard. He also emphasised on the need for judicial interventions. President of IMA then remarked that teamwork is required and clinical study should be done to gather more evidence to which the doctors were also in agreement.

Vinod Maurya, head of Dinapur Panchayat gave a passionate speech on the problems that the community is facing today due to the sewage treatment plant (STP) in Dinapur. He said that the plant was supposed to be situated 5 kms. away from the village but it was constructed right in the middle of village. He added that there is a running instruction from the District Magistrate that STP officials would meet with village representatives every two months on the problems that they are facing and would take possible remedial actions but such meeting never happened.

A representative from UP Jal Nigam then countered him saying that their plant is meant to treat only domestic and municipal sewage and if industrial waste is mixed with it then much cannot be done and other government departments and agencies must look into it.

It was agreed by all the participants present in the workshop to hold a meeting in Dinapur after two months to further highlight the problem and make ways for a sustainable solution.

Dr. Chitravansh of Prayas Foundation was of the opinion that execution of the plan is the main shortcoming of any policy implementation. Shakti of Shambunath Research Foundation felt that lack of clarity on how to take the study findings to next stage was most conspicuous in the discussions and urged all to come prepared in the next meeting.

The CMO, Varanasi felt that the issues raised in the workshop were pertinent. He added that safe drinking water is an important issue and linked to it is the issue of reuse of wastewater. For this it is extremely important that domestic wastewater is separated from industrial wastewater at source itself. The IMA President also spoke in similar vein.

Dr. Sanjay Rai, Secretary, IMA ended the workshop with a vote of thanks to all the participants.

CONSERVATION , MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF VARUNA RIVER ECOSYSTEM

CONSERVATION , MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF VARUNA RIVER ECOSYSTEM

Dr. Anil Kumar Gupta
Department of Botany , S.B.,P.G. College ,
Baragaon , Varanasi - 221204 , U.P. , INDIA
E-Mail: gupta_chandini@rediffmail.com

Rivers play a key role in balancing the hydrological cycle and in providing water for drinking, domestic, municipal, industrial and irrigation consumption, hydroelectric generation, waterway transport and acts as sinks of domestic, municipal and industrial wastes. River Varuna is tributary of river Ganga in the eastern part of U.P., India. Lot of untreated domestic waste is being discharged into the river Varuna at many discharge points. As the river water is used for drinking, domestic, municipal, industrial and irrigation purposes, so the domestic waste degrades the water quality and as it is also used for drinking purposes, so due to its contamination, it transmits water-borne diseases and thus directly affect human health. So far as the water quality is concerned, the temperature, nitrate, phosphate, potassium, calcium and heavy metal (Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr, Fe, Zn, Co, Mn and Pb) content show marked increase, due to mixing of domestic wastes into the river water, whereas the transparency and dissolved oxygen decrease with the addition of domestic wastes. Due to this, water gets highly polluted, contaminated and becomes unfit for drinking purposes. Lot of people of the adjoining villages depend only on river Varuna for variety of purposes and use river water for drinking also, so they use to suffer from water-borne diseases like dysentery, typhoid, jaundice, cholera, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, poliomyelitis, giardiasis, yellow fever, and many other diseases caused by heavy metals present in river water. To restore the river water quality, the untreated domestic wastes should not be allowed to discharge into the river. Regular river water monitoring should be done. Some disinfectants and detoxicants should be mixed at regular time interval. Natural harvester plants, which can absorb pollutants and toxicants, if grown can also help in purification of river water up to some extent.

Convention of Ailing & Dead Rivers

July 12, 2007

Convention of Ailing & Dead Rivers

On July 8th, 2007, People's News Network organized a Convention on Ailing and Dead Rivers in New Delhi. An update.

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Attendees: Dr Vandana Shiva, Dr. B.L. Sharma, Ramesh Sharma, G.N. Kathpaliya, Shekh Hussain, Rajeev dhyani, Ratan Mudgal, Diwan Singh, Anand Misra, Sudha Mohan, Kumar Amitabh, Anita Sampath, Hariyom Tyagi, Dharmpal Tyagi, Shaoor A. khan, Sashi Kant Pandey, Suhas Borker and many activists struggling to save rivers joined the convention.

Opening Note by Dr. Vandana Shiva (Jal Swaraj)
From sixties to nineties trend was for large dams but now large dams are having adverse impact. Tehri dam has failed to meet its expected energy potential. According to World Bank we don't know how to manage water. The World Bank has recently initiated water sector reforms, aimed primarily at privatization of water resources and commercialization of water management. River linking, a 200 billion dollar project has started with Ken-Betwa link. Argument for river linking was to take water from flooded area to drought prone area. But the main contention is to take water from rural area to urban area for industrialization. SEZ luxury of housing is also putting great stress on water resources. Chemical use in agriculture has also increased the usage of water. In Punjab farmers are growing vegetables for export which are water intensive putting more stress on our water resources. It is anticipated that after 20 to 30 yrs their will be no water in Ganga- Yamuna. We can only conserve Our river basins by mobilizing local Support. We should also bring out an anthology Qn rivers region wise with status, campaigns, pictorial representation & pollution statistics.

River Varuna Report by Vyomesh Chitravansh (Hamari Varuna Abhiyan)
The twin rivers Varuna and Asi which give the city its name are polluted beyond compare. Almost 30 sewerage outlets let out its untreated waste into the river.". River Assi has disappeared totally now it remains only in drain form. "Out of the 30 sewerage outlets in the city, only five electricity-run sewerage pumps were set up along the ghats to intercept and divert the sewerage water. Each pump has a bypass opening into the Ganga. When electricity fails, the bypass starts discharging water into the Ganga. Campaign is against encroachment on both sides of river. Upcoming five star hotels & DLF project is also coming on Varuna river. We are reviving Varuna, a diwali festival on river Varuna which is in records till 1907 to build momentum for cause of river Varuna.

Yamuna River Report by Manoj Mishra (Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan)
Yamuna has been the life-line of Delhi. Tragically, over the years this is exactly what has happened and now the state of affairs is such that it is perhaps the most polluted river and, according to experts, "the most threatened riverine system in the whole world". Unfortunately, currently there exists no legal protection available for our rivers as an ecosystem, which includes the river bed and the flood plain. As a result, our rivers have been taken for granted and their river beds and flood plains have been misused in the name of 'development' as if these are waste lands rather than precious parts of an ecosystem with vital and irreplaceable role for re-charge of ground water, floods moderation and as the habitats of varied forms of flora and fauna. The river bed is known to be most prone to damage from an earthquake. The Commonwealth Games construction on its floodplains has only aggravated this situation to great extent.

Ganga Basin Report by Sureshwar Sinha (Pani Morcha)
Ganga basin is at the apex of tectonic or seismic zone. Delhi is part of that apex zone. We are likely to face a major flood combined with earthquake. There are many adverse impacts of dams. Our policy for fifty years has destroyed both Our rivers & ground water. Government has made a mess of water management, now its time people should take control of it. SEZ should be only after Panchayat clearance. We have to fight for our water sovereignty.

Dravyavati River Report by Upendra Shankar (Jaldhara Abhiyan, Jaipur)
River is physically present but in Revenue records of government there is no mention of it. It now remains as Manikshah nala. Till 1921, drinking water used to come from this river. The river flows through 32 villages. Main problems are colonies based on river bed & industries. By forestation on river bed we are trying to revive dying river.

Mithi River Report by Shekh Hussain ( Sadbhavna Sangh, Mumbai)
Mumbai’s l3km long Mithi River is stuffed with effluents and garbage. No one has spared the Mithi river. Not the slums, the encroaching factories, the BMC and definitely not Mumbai's airport. The slums that mushroomed up around the mouth of the river on the Mahim side didn't appear out of a magician's hat. Someone allowed them to come up just a few years ago, like they did up the river, on both sides, as they still do across the rest of the city. Dlf's upcoming project will put further stress on already vulnerable mithi river.

Rajiv Dhyani
This is not only an environmental issue but a cultural issue too. No campaign in India can be successful until & unless it is emotionally attached. We should keep an emotional appeal in our campaign to attract people who don't follow us on technical issues.

Punjab Report by Amar Singh Sidhu
In 1992 the area where there was 10 feet water of SatIuj River today has colonies on it. Issue of climate change is going to affect us further.

Chambal River Report By Siraj Qureshi
According to Mr Siraj problem of floods & water shortage in Chambal can be both controlled by bringing water from Chambal to Tigra, a run of 45 km. Some institutions are running a project to revive Swarn Rekha drain as it is full of pollution, roads & complex encroachments.


Main Outcomes are Programs

1. To bring out an anthology On rivers region wise with status, campaigns, mapping, pictorial representation & pollution statistics.To support the organisations working for the purpose.
2. To institute the committees-Nadi Rakshak, Jal Rakshak.
3. Research on rivers and find out the rivers converted into drains. To make strategy to solve the problems of rivers.
4. Three groups were formed for the endeavour-
(i) Cultural,
(ii) Research And Media and Publication Group.
(iii) To organise a forum under the banner of “ Nadiyon Ki Pukar Abhiyan- Voice of Rivers Campaign”.
5. A course on “ Water and Climate Change” 17-21 March 2008, Beej Vidyapeeth, Dehradoon.

For more information, please contact water.community@gmail.com, kesaraba@gmail.com
Convention organized by Shiraj Kesar. Report Prepared by -Minakshi (PNN), Amit (Navdanya)

एक नदी कुछ कहती है, रोते-रोते बहती है

एक नदी कुछ कहती है, रोते-रोते बहती है

वाराणसी [स्टाफ रिपोर्टर]। मैं वरुणा हूं। संगम नगरी के मैलहन झील से निकलकर काशी में गंगा में समाहित हो जाती हूं। इस लंबे सफर में अनगिनत घात-प्रतिघात सहन कर रही हूं। मैं अपना सर्वस्व मानव जाति के लिए अर्पित कर रही हूं। उसके बाद भी मेरे अस्तित्व को समाप्त करने की कोशिश हो रही। मुझे नहीं पता मेरा क्या अपराध है? मैंने तो अपने पानी के दोहन के लिए न तो किसी सरकार की तरह टैक्स लिया और न ही कोई व्यापार ही कर रही हूं। फिर भी मेरे प्रति ऐसी नाराजगी क्यों? एक लंबे समय से संगम [इलाहाबाद] से काशी तक के बीच बसने वाली एक बड़ी आबादी मेरे सहारे खेती-बारी कर रही। कई पीढि़यों का रिश्ता रहा। मैंने कभी अपने जल के इस्तेमाल को नहीं रोका। गंगा के कोप को भी अपने ऊपर लेकर आपको बचाया। भूजल के स्तर को भी सुधारा। मैंने बदले में कभी कुछ नहीं मांगा। मैं जिस क्षेत्र में गंगा के बढ़े जल को एकत्र कर संकट टालती थी, उसमें भी आप लोगों ने बसेरा बना डाला। अब जब पानी बढ़ेगा तो आपके आशियाने में भरेगा उसकी तकलीफ मुझे होगी। मैं लाचार स्थिति में रहूंगी। क्योंकि मेरे पास जगह नहीं होगी पानी को समेटने की। अपलक नेपथ्य को निहार रही हूं कि किसी भगीरथ का कदम आगे बढ़े जो मुझे सहेजकर नवजीवन प्रदान करें। जब कुछ प्रभावशाली लोगों ने मेरे नाम पर महोत्सव प्रारंभ किया तो लगा शायद मेरे शरीर पर बन रहे घावों को भरने का प्रयास होगा, लेकिन मेरी उम्मीदों पर पानी फिर गया। सिर्फ झूठी दिलासा मिली। मेरे नाम पर राजनीतिक लाभ लेने की कोशिश हुई। मुझे नहीं पता कौन व्यवस्था का पालक है और किसकी जिम्मेदारी बनती है। मेरी याचना सभी से है कि एक नदी खत्म हो गई तो दूसरी नहीं ला पाओगे। मेरी सहोदर असी खत्म हो गई तो क्या उसे पुन: जिंदा कर पाएंगे। मैं किसी स्वार्थ के वशीभूत नहीं हूं। आने वाली पीढ़ी की चिंता है। जब मैं नहीं रहूंगी तो क्या हालात होंगे उसकी कल्पना तो जानकार ही कर सकेंगे। हे ! व्यवस्था के कर्ता-धर्ता थोड़ी रहम करो मुझे बख्श दो ताकि वर्तमान और भविष्य दोनों को संवार सकूं। http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/national/general/5_1_5880615/