Editorial
Save rivers from dying
A river management body should be in place
The deteriorating condition of our rivers has ceased to be news to us. In fact, we have grown accustomed to rivers either dying or narrowing down due to encroachment and illegal filling compounded by dumping of industrial and other types of waste. All these are manmade interferences in the form of gross violation of the environmental laws. More than one-third of the country's rivers is fast drying up, taking a heavy toll on our environment and river communication system.
This dismal picture was given by the Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen himself while he was replying to lawmakers' queries in parliament. Of the country's 310 rivers, no less than 97 have already lost navigability while the others are also facing serious threats from encroachment and grabbing. Quite alarmingly, 35,000 km of the country's waterways has shrunk to only 3,500 km.
The minister, however, highlighted only the natural factor of silt deposition in riverbeds, overlooking the manmade factors which are also responsible for constricting our water bodies, especially our rivers. As we know it, silt deposition is a natural process which happens when the currents of a river flowing downstream are reduced in velocity. With more and more rivers losing the flow of their currents, silt deposition has become a persistent problem, reducing the navigability of our rivers.
Obviously, this is one of the many factors that are responsible for the sorry state of our rivers and addressing it does not offer a comprehensive solution. What we really need in order to save our rivers is to form a unified, functional river authority that will supervise the overall management of our rivers. It can work in association with the Department of Environment to checkmate dumping of industrial waste into rivers and immediately stop encroachment and illegal grabbing of our rivers. It should also be in charge of dredging up the shallow riverbeds, which in itself is a huge task needing co-operation from the Water Development Board.
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