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| Lavatories open into Doodh Ganga river | | SBM Gramin apathy strangles water-bodies | | Early Times Report
BUDGAM, Aug 3 : Much hyped Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) has failed to protect the famous Doodh Ganga river Budgam as more than 200 lavatories find its entry into the water-body in Chadoora block alone. Sources say that many lavatories constructed by Rural Development Department under SBM Gramin scheme also open into small rivulets which finally enter in Doodh Ganga in almost one dozen villages located on the banks of this river.
Details available with Early Times reveal that Individual House Hold Lavatories (IHHL) constructed with the financial assistance of Rs 12000 from Rural Development Department open into Doodh Ganga and its tributaries and rivulets in many villages of Chadoora and Surasyar areas of Budgam district. Sources in Rural Development Department (RDD) have revealed that trenches are supposed to be constructed for lavatories funded by Govt under IHHL and Community Lavatories schemes but in almost all the villages in Budgam and other districts there are hundreds of such lavatories that open into water bodies especially rivulets , streams , irrigation canals and rivers. In Doodh Ganga river there are many lavatories that enter into it directly or indirectly from Wathoora to Branwar in Chadoora block that consists of almost more than 1 dozen villages. A complaint on contamination of Doodh Ganga drinking water is already pending before State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and Early Times has filed several reports on the issue from last many days. SHRC earlier had asked its investigating agency to get the water samples from Doodh Ganga tested / examined through some expert agency. In addition to lavatories contaminating this water there are large number of apple orchards located on the banks of Doodh Ganga from Chadoora to Branwar (18 kms stretch) . The water gets contaminated during spraying of pesticides in the apple orchards. This makes water unfit for public consumption say experts. Pertinently Doodh Ganga water is lifted by Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department at Kralpora area and the water is supplied for drinking purpose to almost 2 lakh households in Srinagar city especially in the civil lines areas like posh colonies of Rawalpora , Bagat , Barzulla , Jawahra Nagar , Humhama , Airport , Huderpora etc
"If SBM Gramin is meant to construct lavatories that will counter open defecation , how can Rural Development or Rural Sanitation departments and district administration Budgam allow lavatories to open into rivulets , streams and canals that finally enter into bigger rivers like Doodh Ganga ? I appeal SHRC and DC Budgam to probe into SBM Gramin scheme and identify lavatories that open into water-bodies while as they were supposed to have pits as per SBM norms. We will seek details of these lavatries under RTI and then cross check which all enter into water-bodies directly " said Syed Nasrullah who is associated with Environmental Policy Group (EPG) |
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