A CAPITAL City such as New
Delhi, ranked the third most polluted city in the world, draws
more attention than a filtt
neigbbourhood locality. Yet,
the environmental aspects of f
many small towns and villages
contribute to make a maj impact on the environment of
the country.
For instance, towns such as
Varanasi and Agra in the nor
and Madurai and Mysore in the
south find themselves in the
spotlight from both national
and international perspective
either because of their religious significance or their
tourism potential. But the impression
retained after a visit to the
cities is of an environment that leaves much to be desire
Keeping this in mind, a detailed study of Aligarh,
a small town in Uttar Pradesh,
was conducted to enquire into the common
problems faced by the residents on the environmental front.
Aligarh is known mainly for its
seat of learning-the Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU). The city, spread over an area of 34
square Hometres, is also an important Centre of
locksmithy.
The town has a population of
nearly half a million, according to the 1991
census. And the
indiscriminate 'growth which is
a hallmark of
Aligarh has left its
impressions on the environment. On account of its being
an important Centre
of locksmithy, and other allied
industrial functions like electroplating,
casting, the town is
besieged with rural migration.
However, the
town's infrastructure is such
that it is unable to
take on the extra load thereby
resulting in a major
breakdown of sanitary
conditions.
Though a basic av@areness of
cleanliness exists
among the majority of the
population, they are
unable to carry it through.
(Nearly 28 per cent of
the town's population lives
below the poverty line
- household incomes ranging
between Rs 500 to
Rs 1,500 per month - and
another 34 per cent
bordering the poverty
line-household incomes
ranging between Rs 1,500 to Rs
2,500.) Their lack
of education combined with low
earning capacities prevents them from
forcing any action
from the authorities that
matter-such as the
muncipality. Fakir Chand, a
resident of Bhuki
Sarai, a small mohalla (small
locality) in the old
city, who earns Rs 40 as daily
wages, complains:
"Nobody listens to us at the
municipality.
The municipal sweepers do not
even come into 'z
our area to clean it. Every
week, a few of us get
together and clean the filth
ourselves."
Lack of space, a growing
population and poor 81
infrastructure, has led to
appalling sanitary
conditions all over the town,
even in the prestigious university
area. The Aligarh survey
sponsored by the Centre of Science
and Environment, New Delhi and
the International Institute
for Environment and Development,
London, reveals that out
of a composite score of 12 for
assessing household conditions,
only 4 wards out of a toW of 40,
which consist of 7.6 per cent
of the town's population@,had
more than 75 per cent of the
houses in the best category. The
overriding considerations of
assessing the household
c6nditions were the factors of
water supply and sanitation fatilities.
And in both areas, the town was found wanting.
Groundwater which is ihe main
source of drinking water
is supplied to the residents
either through pipes or hand
pumps. The municipality which
operates 35 tubewells, directly
feeds the water into the. town's
distributive system. According
to Rajiv Rautheria, Aligaih's
City Magistrate, some 50 MLD
(million litres a day) of water
is generated by the tubewells.
The municipality contends that
water is supplied at the.
rate of 200 litres per capita per
day. However, many areas of
Aligarh receive only 4-6 hours'of
water supply. In fact, for the
nearly 100 families of the
Haburas tribe residing behind the
Kotwali, near the Jamma Masjid,
easy access to any form of
water supply is non-existent.
They have to travel even to procure water and timings for the
supply is irregular.
Says Dharamveer who makes a
living out of polishing shoes,
"The water comes from 3 am to 7
am and on some days none at all."
The low water supply is on
account of the poor distribution system, machinery breakdowns
and power supply failures. But the quality of the
water supply - both piped and
from hand pumps, have shown that
they contain an alarming
level of bacteria and faecal
coliform content which is far
above the limit prescribed by WHO guidelines.
According to WHO limits, drinking
water should have a
zero faecal coliform count; the
survey revealed that 65 per cent
of the handpump water samples
contained a faecal coliform
count of more than 2 MPN/ 100 ml
and only 6 per cent of the
piped water samples had a count
of less than this limit.
Shockingly, inspite of having deeper aquifers, piped water
supply which is available to nearly 75 per cent of the population has a higher faecal coliform content, mainly because the
distribution system is in a state of utter negligence. Water
pipes leak in many areas. And Teela, a mohalla in Upper Kot,
even had water pipes bandaged by the local residents with bits
of cloth. In most areas, water pipes are submerged in sewage or
else run alongside open drains and stinking nullahs (drains).
A visit to the City Magistrate's office revealed the fact that
it was not even aware of the submergence of
the water pipes in the sullage. During low
pressure, there is dien an ingress of raw,
untreated sewage into the leaking pipes,
thereby leading to water contamination.
Strangely, though facilities for chlorination
of water exist at certain points along the
city's water distribution system, it is more
often than not left undone, exposing the
Aligarh residents to further danger.
"The city sewerage system has completely collapsed," says Professor R H Siddiqi,
one of the principal co- investigators of the
Aligarh Environment Study. As the city continues to expand, there is no concomitant
upgrading of the city's sewerage system. The
city's waste water empties into the Municipal
Sewage farm on the outskirts of the city on At"
the Iglass road en route to Mathura. While
the city's drainage system is divided into 4
zones, only 3 are partially sewered while the fourth zone is
totally unsewered. Further, the
drains, especially the main sewer
in zone 2, are choked for the past
few years leading to a sluggish
flow of the waste water. And during the rains, the sewage over- Y
flows and spreads all over the
area leading to a slow but steady JM,
groundwater contamination
The stormwater drains are
all also tapped into the main wwer- "M
age system in certain places
which means that the drainage
system gets clogged with silt. The main drain
which runs along the boundary of the city
meets a small tributary of the river Yamuna.
However, because of the choked sewers en
route, the gradient flow of wastewater
remains sluggish and the town area is frequently flooded with the sewage leading to the outbreak of diseases like cholera and malaria.
Sewage water is filtered only for solid
wastes and this is then let untreated into the
35 acre Municipal Sewage Farm where veg-
etables like potatoes, carrots, cucumber and
cauliflower are grown on a large scale. These
vegetables are exported to surrounding
towns, even as far as Indore in Madhya
Pradesh. Though a Sewage Treatment Plant
situated in the Nagla Barola village on the outskirts of the cities
was constructed in the mid-eighties in order to treat sewage
water flowing from the university area, it has not been commissioned to date.
Says Mohammed Akbar, the chowkidar (watchman) of the
plant, "While the sewage water comes up to the plant, it is let
into the university farm untreated. This has affected the productivity of the plants. The mango and guava trees which usec:
to fruit earlier have stopped giving us ftuits for the last 7 to 8
years now. Thewheat fields which existed here are completely dry. All this is mainly due to the dirty water supplied to these plants."
Prevailing sanitary conditions in the city are such that open
defaecation does not raise any eyebrows. "When means do not
exist, what more can we do," questions a resident of Shishiya
Para, a mohalla adjacent to the Grand Trunk road. The
Aligarh survey lists 16.3 per cent of the population as not having access to any form of toilet facilities. As a result, a
substantial chunk of the population practices open defaecation. And
this is not limited only to poor areas of the town. It is also a
fact that a sewer line empties a certain section of the sewage including faecal matter literally at the doorstep of the Haburas tribe
which resides behind the Kotwali near the Jamma Masjid.
The city is also pockmarked with heaps of garbage dumps
along important roads and lanes. At times, vacant plots serve
as a garbage dumping site, bang in the middle of residential
localities. Areas behind the Aligarh railway station - mainly
occupied by the poorer sections of the society - are eyesores
with rotting garbage in several vacant plots, scavenging dogs
and swarms of flies. A nauseating stench completes the despicable scene. Amazingly, naked children merrily cavort nearby
oblivious of the stench and filth.
Even places in localities which fell into the best category
such as Civil Lines which houses the AMU served as dumping
sites for the garbage. Admits Rautheria, "Aligarh is one of the
most dirty cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh." He has devised
certain measures to ensure that there is daily collection of
garbage and has served stringent orders that those safai karam-charies (garbage cleaners) who do not comply have to face
action. He listishortage of funds as another reason for the
city's unclean appearance.
The highways of the city also act as garbage dumping sites.
Trucks laden with the city's garbage come this far and empty
their contents right on the road. The system of sanitary landfills is non-existent in the city. Figures on the daily collection
of garbage in the city remain nebulous as no account is maintained. While in certain areas of the city, garbage is collected
once a week, other areas especially in the localities of Bhuki
Sarai, Bihari Nagar and near Kotwali do without any garbage
collection. This is in spite of a World Bank aided garbage dis
posal system in place. Claims Rautheria, "The muncipality is
short of sweepers (it currently has 1,800 on its payrolls) and
the up government has issued a ban on new recruitment."
Noise population is another major inconvenience for the
residents of Aligarh. With nearly 55 per cent of the city's working population involved in commercial activities, most industries function in households. In the densely populated location
of Upper Kot in the middle of the city, nearly every house has
a centre of lockmaking facility either for doors or cycles or is
involved in keymaking activity. Women of the household also
participate in the process in most cases. But this has meant
that the noise levels are exceedingly high even in residential
areas leading to a host of concurrent illnesses including deaf-
ness and damage to the nerves.
The uncontrolled growth of Aligarh has affected the natural
drainage system resulting in periodic flooding in many areas.
While the rains accentuate the problem, there is no seasonal
demarcation for waterlogging. It is present almost throughout
the year especially in the low-income housing areas. During
the survey, nearly 70 per cent of the households complained
about waterlogging, mainly due to overflowing
sewage drains.
Waterlogging in Aligarh has created a
disturbkig situation for the small villages
surrounding it. With many areas in the city
affected, new constructions have frequently
sourced the soil of villages to raise the plinth
levels of buildings and roads.
Large quantities of earth are brought into
the city daily from the surrounding villages for
both construction and agricultural purposes.
But for these villages, the loss of agricultural
lands is incalculable. Rough estimates put the
yearly inflow of earth into Aligarh at an
,Astounding 265,000 cubic metres. Nearly 530 ha
of agricultural land in other villages have been
put to non-agricultural use as the survey reveals.
Land in villages at a greater distance from
Aligarh use up to 63 ha for brick kilns and
the bricks made are transported to Aligarh.
Thus the surrounding villages while nurturing
the city of Aligarh are themselves facing a
shortage of land and cowdung. A very important fuel, cowdung, is used by 35 per cent of the city's population. So the villages lose not only
their hold on agricultural land but also the
means to fertilize it.
A bird's eye view
How representative is, Aligarh of other towns
and cities in India? :Surveys conducted by
National Institute of Man Affairs (NiuA) across
the length and breadth of the country demonstrate that while Aligath is relatively representative of the state of noithern towns, cities in the
southern part of ln&4!i@re comparatively cleaner
than their northern counterparts. As Dinesh
Mehta, Director, tjiuA, puts it: "It has more to
do with the culture'o@ the community than its
location."
All over the Indian scenario, while more stress is given to
harnessing water resources in small towns, not much thought
is given to adequate water drainage. The result: wateTlogging
becomes a serious issue threatening the existence of agriculture and endangering the health of the people as many water-borne diseases make their appearance.
The only remedy seems to be mass movements by residents, which in the past has shown itself to be effective in waking up the authorities to some action. But people in Aligarh
limit their action to blaming the local government for not providing adequate facilities. While it is true that the final responsibility rests with the government, past examples prove that it
is enveloped with a sense of abject apathy when it comes to
providing the populace succour in the form of bare necessities
like sanitation and clean water. Funds provided for various
schemes often line the pockets of officials.
The importance of environment consciousness and care
cannot be overstated in small towns in order to achieve a living in a state of hygiene. Unless this truth is recognised, cities
and towns across India would remain versions of Aligarh with
only the degree of filth standing at variance.
12jav.net12jav.net
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