Dying Doodh Ganga!

Once possessing crystal clear waters, Doodh Ganga river has been battling for survival due to unabated pollution! If there is a perfect example of official apathy towards conservation of water bodies, it is Doodh Ganga.

Despite directions of National Green Tribunal (NGT), authorities in Kashmir have blatantly failed to launch conservation measures to restore Doodh Ganga.

Doodh Ganga originates from glaciers in the Pir Panjal range of mountains and flows from central Kashmir’s Budgam district to Srinagar. The river is the main source of drinking water for Budgam and uptown areas of Srinagar. Its gushing water was so clear till a few decades ago that it formed a white surface earning it the sobriquet of “milky river.” In absence of measures to prevent flow of drains and garbage into the stream, it turned into a cesspool.

The NGT  has passed several directions for restoration of Doodh Ganga in the last 4 years on a petition by noted Kashmir based environmental activist Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat. But most of the directions have been observed in breach by authorities.

During recent hearing of the case, the J&K Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC) informed the NGT that for imposition of Environmental Compensation on Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Municipal Councils of Chadoora and Budgam would be taken up in six weeks as ground reports have found that large scale pollution continued to impact Doodh Ganga stream in Chadoora and Srinagar areas along with Mamath Kul in Budgam.

The petitioner Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat informed the NGT that due to illegal mining with heavy machines in the last four years have weakened the embankments of Doodh Ganga and that caused massive soil erosion, landslides. This caused the breach in three irrigation channels namely Kralpur Kul, Doyan Kul and Masar Kul which supply irrigation waters to more than 5000 kanals of agricultural land.

Noted Environmental lawyer Rahul Chowdhary who appeared on behalf of the petitioner apprised the tribunal that no steps have been taken by J&K Government for Doodh Ganga restoration. The NGT directed Commissioner / Secretary, Environment J&K Govt to disclose the outer time-limit for completing the work of construction of STPs and its commissioning and 100% household connectivity.

The Govt counsel was given 6 weeks time to file counter response regarding illegal mining and landslides, having damaged Doodh Ganga embankments and breach of three irrigation canals during recent floods.  For failure to prevent pollution of Doodh Ganga in previous years, huge environmental compensation has been imposed on SMC, Municipal Councils Chadoora and Budgam. As environmental compensation, SMC paid Rs 1 crore initially in 2022 and then paid Rs 42 crores last year. MC Chadoora and Budgam had paid Rs 1 crore in 2022 and Rs 1 crore was paid by Mining Department Budgam respectively. This clearly shows the casual approach of authorities to save Doodh Ganga which has been reduced to a drain!

Before NGT, the  High Court of Jammu and Kashmir had taken suo moto cognisance of a report published in Greater Kashmir on Doodh Ganga’s deterioration in 2019 and treated it as Public Interest Litigation passing a slew of directions for its conservation. The report had exposed the deteriorating condition of Doodh Ganga and garbage dumps near the Water Filtration Plant which supplies drinking water to more than two lakh people in different areas of Srinagar.

The J&K Legislative House Committee on Environment, headed by Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami, on August 21 visited the Doodh Ganga water treatment plant at Kralpora which supplies drinking water to seven lakh population in Srinagar uptown. The committee grilled the officers of PHE Jal Shakti Department on complaints of supplying contaminated water to people.  The raw water to plants is full of contamination due to inflow of drains to the feeding channel.

Successive regimes have not taken any measures to restore Doodh Ganga. All that authorities did was to divert all drains from Budgam to uptown Srinagar areas into the river. Doodh Ganga stretch from Aloochi Bagh to Batamaloo was filled up to pave way for constructions. Besides people, authorities too made constructions on the erstwhile Dood Ganga at Batamaloo stretch. Ironically, the area once reverberating with the sound of gushing river is now Doodh Ganga Road!

As per estimates, 1.62 Million Liters Daily (MLD) sewage is generated per day in Budgam and directly flows into Doodh Ganga river. Srinagar’s uptown areas contribute 60 Million Liters Daily of sewage to the river. This is happening as authorities have been sitting over construction of Sewage Treatment Plants along the river. Besides, unabated illegal riverbed mining has severely affected Doodh Ganga’s hydrology and flora and fauna.

During a recent cleaning drive, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha maintained that lakes and rivers are lifelines for humanity and urged citizens to preserve these through community involvement.

The LG underscored that major challenges of rapid depletion of natural resources and degradation of J&K’s ecology should be topmost priority. “Our natural resources are reminding us to learn the lessons from the wrongs we have committed in the past. We must respect the delicate balance of nature and concerted efforts should be made to clean our lakes and rivers,” the LG rightly noted.

Amid erratic weather patterns due to climate change, it is high time for authorities to make conservation of water resources a priority. We are witnessing prolonged dry spells and sudden flood-like situations. These indicators of climate change must be taken seriously.

Government must join hands with people to restore water bodies. It needs collective effort to save our natural assets as our survival depends on these!

Author is Executive Editor,

Greater Kashmir