Our Sarpanch of Devprayag town Panchayat- Mrs Krishna Kant Kotyal

Mr Kotyal has been a social worker since long, has been District Panchayat level senior member. In the last election, his wife Mrs Kotyal replaced Mr. JP Pandit who did not contest due his bad health, now dead. She defeated Mrs. Rajesh Agarwal, wife of ex-Sarpanch and a prominent shopkeeper of the town. Kotyal with his son Mr. Rahul also manage Pious Ganga hotel, near petrol station, just as you enter Devprayag town. Very humble and helping, you can always see him surrounded by locals in the morning at his hotel office. Pious Ganga is a nice clean hotel with its own restaurant. From the hotel

rooms, you can watch river Ganga flowing and the road across which goes to Pauri town. (in the picture, Mr Kotyal is at the left in red cap, the place is his hotel courtyard)

High Court bans immersion of idols in Ganga and Yamuna rivers: Protect Ganga ji

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has banned with immediate effect the immersion of idols in the Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad. While the order is applicable to Vijaya Dashmi on October 14 this year, the court has directed the state government to ensure its implementation across UP from next year.

The court directed the Allahabad district administration to identify and develop other places for immersions. It also asked the state to direct district administrations of areas through which the Ganga and Yamuna passed through to ensure that alternative immersion sites come up next year.

The directives on Monday came on a PIL seeking on pollution of the two rivers. A division bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Arun Tandon said it had recorded in its order on November 6, 2012 the stand of district administrations that alternative site would be found after Durga Puja. Therefore, the court had directed the state to find out suitable alternative place for immersion of idols before the next Durga Puja festival so that immersion of idols is avoided in the river Ganga and Yamuna.

However, the court said, after examining the affidavit of the Allahabad district magistrate it found that hardly any effective steps had been in the past one year to arrange for suitable alternative places for immersion. The date of immersion is fixed well in advance but the administration failed to make any alternative arrangement, it said

"We are of the view that the administration must find out alternative appropriate places with sufficient water and provide necessary facilities including the route, road lights etc for immersion of the idols," the court directed (from Times of India, Oct 8, 2013)

I wish I can file a PIL with Supreme Court against water rafting Camping organizations polluting Ganga with dumping human waste on its banks

                                                              

  Arguments:

1. The river Ganga, worshipped by billion Indians and Hindus as Ganga Maa, ‘mother’ since time immemorial, revered and believed by millions as the forgiving, purifying and sin-washing for the bathers should be treated with dignity. Ganga and its flowing water touching historic towns of the northern States have to be saved from destruction, pollution and garbage dumps.
2. How shameful, criminal and horrendous it is to make a believer drink its black dirty water while believing in heart as if it is the pious heavenly water.
3. Ganga originates from Deoprayag, a 65 kms distance from Rishikesh, and 90 kms from Haridwar. All the hill towns on the periphery and its Panchayat officials do not hesitate dumping its garbage of human, animal wastes, house sewerage, plastics, and all the rotten scraps into the serene waters.

4. Uttarakhand Government and its tourist Dept has started and permitted about 100 companies to set up camping grounds on the very bank of the Ganga river, between Village Kaudiyala near Deoprayag town and Rishikesh, for the tourists to enjoy a big money maker water rafting, and frolic in the nature with drink parties, dinners, music nights, and fires dances at the river banks.

5. Guests sleep in tents, use a boxed holes placed inside sidelined tiny-tents as toilets. These temporary and moving toilets have holes in the sand, dug about 4 fts in the ground, which are used by guests for relieving themselves, using toilet papers. Sanitary napkins and condoms also find their way there with soap, detergents added at the time of bath and washing. Every reliever puts a small shovel of sand on his waste to stop bad odor and hide the awful sight. When the hole is filled up, camp worker, shift the ‘hut’ to another site few feet away. This goes on and on forever. And for years.

6. According to a rough guess, every year, if 100,000 visitors of these camps, and every visitor makes about a kg of waste during his stay, the Ganga banks are sitting at about 10,000 quintals of human waste a year. For the past 6/7 years, the figures will be mind blowing.

7. This stored and planted mounds of shit goes into water body and is also washed to other towns like Haridwar, Varanasi, Kanpur. It is being religiously drunk by millions old, young, men, women every year.

8. Chemists and well known water scientists have proved that any dump of waste in the land filled area seeps into water body and pollutes the water and makes hazardous and very unhealthy for humans. Thousands Ganga lovers suffer from serious diarrhea, stomach ailments, and jaundice.

9. Foreigner visitors, anti-pollution advocates worldwide have been shocked by our State tourism practice of allowing people to live at the banks of the great river. Nowhere in the world any country allows tourists to camp at the banks of the river.

10. Court should order Uttarakhand State to cancel all the permits of the Camping ground owners and remove them from the banks. This has to be stopped immediately. The Government may help them shift their business inside forests or on the highlands nearby to keep the business and tourism going.

Our all India NGO –Live For Others Foundation, Reg no. S/59909/2007 is deeply involved in river Ganga cleaning project and turning Deoprayag town in Uttarakhand a garbage and plastic free town with the full support of the local Panchayat and the town seniors. (www.liveforothersfoundation.org Ph 852 794 4603)