India has mostly focussed on cleaning only major rivers; most states have recently started reviving their small rivers, but the progress remains far from satisfactory
In 2020, Bihar government claimed it had cleaned up Dhanauti river in East Champaran district after spending `3 crore to desilt the riverbed and carry out plantation drives. This image of the river, captured on June 24, 2023 tells a different story (Photograph: Priyadarshi Priyam) India has been cleaning up its polluted rivers for many decades now. In the past three years alone, the country has spent over Rs 4,000 crore on two flagship programmes, Namami Gange and the National River Conservation Plan, suggests government data. Still, 46 per cent of the 603 Indian rivers remain polluted, shows a report released by the Central Pollution Control Board in December 2022.
India’s river cleanup drives have failed because the country has focused on major rivers alone, says Venkatesh Dutta, professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. They were bound to fail because small rivers eventually merge with major rivers and pollute them, he adds.
Starting 2019, the focus has widened to include small rivers and tributaries in revival programmes. Besides the two flagship schemes, several other Central programmes such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart Cities Mission have components to arrest river pollution, says D P Mathuria, executive director, Technical, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
“Today, every state is also working for the revival of small rivers,” says Nidhi Dwivedi, programme officer, NMCG. Experts like Dutta, though, maintain that the ground realities remain the same. Down To Earth (DTE) tracked the restoration drives of small rivers in four states to gauge the progress and the challenges.
In July 2022, the state government claimed 60 rivers had been revived in the previous five years. The reality, though, is quite different. One of the 60 rivers is Gomti, which, as per the 2022 CPCB report, is the fifth most polluted river in the country.
As per the Uttar Pradesh commissioner’s office of rural development, river cleaning projects have been undertaken in eight rivers — four in Jhansi, two in Jalaun and one each in Deoria and Kushi Nagar.
Even the cleaned rivers remain vulnerable. Aami, which flows through four districts in the state, was cleaned up early this year after protests and intervention by the National Green Tribunal.
“The authorities are yet to set up the common effluent treatment plant and sewage treatment plant, which are a part of Aami’s revival plan,” says Vishwavijay Singh, who formed the Aami Bachao Manch in 2007.
Dutta says that small rivers have been neglected for such a long time that even locating their routes is a challenge. “In May 2023, I was researching Sarayan river in Lakhimpur Kheri district and found that the government records classify this Gomti tributary as a nullah. There is no record of the source of the river. We finally used satellite images and found that it used to be 249 km long. The revenue records show it to be 190 km long,” says Dutta.
Documentation on the state’s small rivers is sketchy, and the few rivers that have been revived are facing opposition from local communities.
In 2020, East Champaran district cleaned up an 80-km stretch of Dhanauti river, a tributary of Burhi Gandak, after spending over Rs 3 crore to desilt the riverbed and initiate plantation drives.
“Residents are now forbidden from fishing, which is a livelihood source for many,” says Ruchi Shree, who teaches political science at Tilka Majhi Bhagalpur University.
Gourisankar Ghosh, chairperson of Waterlife, a company that works on water conservation and sustainability, says rejuvenation projects across India are “colonial in the sense that they do not include the people in the decision-making process”.
Ranjeet Giri with non-profit Yuva Sangathan claims that the revival claims exist only on paper. “In most stretches, the water remains so polluted that it stinks,” says Giri.
The state has identified 12 districts for restoration works under the Namami Gange. “But, till date, not even one river rejuvenation project has been picked up,” says Rahul Banerjee, river rights activist in Indore. The bigger problem, he says, is that the state has failed to set up mandatory common effluent treatment plants in industrial areas.
The state has a good track record of rejuvenating small rivers through its Haritha Keralam Mission, which uses Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) funds for the works.
“We have revived several small streams that cumulatively cover more than 40,000 km,” says Abraham Koshy, assistant coordinator of the Mission. While experts acknowledge the state’s work, they say the rejuvenation process can become more effective if government departments work in tandem.
“For instance, the forest department, responsible for plantation drives along the rivers, is not a part of the mission,” says S P Ravi of non-profit All Kerala River Protection Council.
He adds that the government’s claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. “One of the flagship projects under the Haritha Kerala Mission is the linking of Pamba and Manimala rivers with an artificial channel. It remains clogged most of the year.”
He says that the river rejuvenation projects have a very limited outlook. “Cleaning midland stretches, streams, joining rivers is required. But this alone does not mean the river is rejuvenated. Authorities have to start from the source and ensure rejuvenation up to the point it drains into the sea or backwaters,” he adds.
This was first published in the 16-31 July, 2023 edition of Down To Earth
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