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The Hindu : anupma Jain.
To clean the Ganga from its pollution, a project to set up bio-digester toilets along its banks is underway
Once worshipped as the ‘saviour Ganga’, harbinger of hope and purifier of souls, the mighty river is now struggling to survive and breathe freely, from the garbage and filth littered all over it.But amidst this pall of sadness, there is a ray of hope as a silent sanitation revolution is being undertaken on the banks of Ganga to make her free from trash.
In an ambitious programme, around 5,000 zero-wastes, ‘bio-digester’ toilets would be installed in villages along the 2,500-km stretch of the Ganga basin. The project has been undertaken jointly by the Ganga Action Parivaar (GAP), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the patronage of Swami Chidanand Saraswati, founder and president of Rishikesh-based Parmarth Ashram Niketan. In a unique coming together of saints, politicians, industrialists and Bollywood stars, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between GAP, FICCI and DRDO at a recently-held conference on environment conservation and world peace, signalling the launch of the programme in Rishikesh.
GAP, in collaboration with FICCI and DRDO, will attempt to free the river from the pollution and related threats to its biological diversity and environmental sustainability. “Most of the people living in the Ganga river basin have no sanitary facilities. They are forced to use the river for their ablution out of sheer necessity, fouling its water and turning it into a source for spreading diseases,” said Chidanand Saraswati.
Former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that the government intended to rid the country of open defecation in the next 10 years. He said that the bio-toilets would also help in curbing manual scavenging which was still prevalent in about 15 lakh insanitary latrines. It may be recalled that Defence Ministry and Rural development Ministry have also signed MoUs for installing these toilets in over one lakh gram panchayats in next few years
Initially, mobile bio-digester toilets, or Green Toilets, would be set up at various locations of the Kumbh Mela, where around 130 million people are expected to visit. The project will be later expanded from Har ki Paudi in Hardwar to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath and at schools, bus stands, railway stations and taxi stands across the 2,500-km stretch of the Ganga basin.
To clean the Ganga from its pollution, a project to set up bio-digester toilets along its banks is underway
Once worshipped as the ‘saviour Ganga’, harbinger of hope and purifier of souls, the mighty river is now struggling to survive and breathe freely, from the garbage and filth littered all over it.But amidst this pall of sadness, there is a ray of hope as a silent sanitation revolution is being undertaken on the banks of Ganga to make her free from trash.
In an ambitious programme, around 5,000 zero-wastes, ‘bio-digester’ toilets would be installed in villages along the 2,500-km stretch of the Ganga basin. The project has been undertaken jointly by the Ganga Action Parivaar (GAP), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the patronage of Swami Chidanand Saraswati, founder and president of Rishikesh-based Parmarth Ashram Niketan. In a unique coming together of saints, politicians, industrialists and Bollywood stars, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between GAP, FICCI and DRDO at a recently-held conference on environment conservation and world peace, signalling the launch of the programme in Rishikesh.
GAP, in collaboration with FICCI and DRDO, will attempt to free the river from the pollution and related threats to its biological diversity and environmental sustainability. “Most of the people living in the Ganga river basin have no sanitary facilities. They are forced to use the river for their ablution out of sheer necessity, fouling its water and turning it into a source for spreading diseases,” said Chidanand Saraswati.
Former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that the government intended to rid the country of open defecation in the next 10 years. He said that the bio-toilets would also help in curbing manual scavenging which was still prevalent in about 15 lakh insanitary latrines. It may be recalled that Defence Ministry and Rural development Ministry have also signed MoUs for installing these toilets in over one lakh gram panchayats in next few years
Initially, mobile bio-digester toilets, or Green Toilets, would be set up at various locations of the Kumbh Mela, where around 130 million people are expected to visit. The project will be later expanded from Har ki Paudi in Hardwar to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath and at schools, bus stands, railway stations and taxi stands across the 2,500-km stretch of the Ganga basin.
