BRAJ MANDAL'S HOLY  TOWNS  BATTLE  WITH  GARBAGE

 

If there is any religious hub in India that urgently needs to get involved in  Prime minister Narendra Modi's Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, it should be the Sri Krishna-land of Braj. Extending from Bateshwar, 70 km south of Agra to Kot-van near Kosi, the Braj Mandal is a repository of culture, art and religious beliefs that draw countless million devotees round the year. And with the world's tallest Sri Krishna temple under construction at Vrindavan, plus the celebrations associated with Chaitnya Mahaparabhu's 500th year of his first visit to Vrindavan, the number of visitors to the holy Braj mandal is only going to increase. Luckily, Modi government has shown keen interest in taking up on priority the Braj Heritage Development Plan

 

 

 

Goverdhan (Mathura district) November 8 (IANS)

 

Why are Hindu pilgrim centres so dirty? This is the question that every pilgrim who comes to Mathura or Vrindavan asks.

 

Right now of course, Vrindavan is being cleaned and spruced up for the President's programme November 16, but a visit to popular Shri Krishna shrines in the Braj area, reveals the sordid saga of callous neglect and under-development, with heaps of garbage and dirt piling up around temples, near the holy ponds and the river banks.

 

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has announced his plan to visit Mathura-Vrindavan soon to review developmental projects. The Modi government has already selected Mathura as a heritage city for which a fresh development plan is being drawn up. Joint secretary in the central urban development ministry Pravin Prakash had long discussions for two days with the stake holders and visited many sites.

 

Mathura municipal authorities say the resources crunch inhibits any major offensive against dirt, as you need means and a workable mechanism to ensure the garbage is regularly collected, transported and treated. "But the city and the towns around like Vrindavan, Goverdhan, Gokul or Barsana, have no proper land-fill sites, or dumping grounds. Sewage treatment plants hardly work and for days garbage is not lifted. The heaps start stinking and attract flies and mosquitoes," says Jagan Nath Poddar, convener of Frinds  of Vrindavan, an NGO that collects waste from temples to recycle through vermiculture into useful manure.

 "The drains are choked because of polythene bags. The sewer lines are not functional because the water pressure is not there," adds a priest Krishna Das in Gokul.

 

The Joint Secretary of the central urban development ministry Pravin Prakash who was in Vrindavan  to interact with the locals on the proposed heritage city plan, was told by not only foreign pilgrims but also by Indian Sri Krishna Bhakts that they were most offended by dirt and squalor. They wanted urgent steps to address the problem of choked sewer lines and open drains discharging into the Yamuna river. District magistrate Rajesh Kumar and other senior officials were with him.

 

"The challenge of garbage is Himalayan. That's because the four main shrines of Braj Goverdhan, Gokul, Mathura and Vrindavan, are visited by more than 10 crore pilgrims round the year. No other religious hub in the country attracts so many visitors throughout the year. If you add Barsana which draws a huge crowd for Holi celebrations, the number of visitors could be many times more," says author and activist Dr Ashok Bansal. With the opening of the Yamuna Expressway, the pressure has only increased, he added.

 

The grim reality however is that the government bodies are simply not equipped to provide a clean, friendly and affordable infrastructure to the visitors. The municipal bodies say they are short of manpower and financial commitments are running high these days. "The elected members blame the government functionaries who pass the buck explaining the state government is not releasing funds," adds Madhu Mangal Shukla, an RTI activist.

 

An official report prepared by the Mathura municipality officials says  "there is no segregation of solid waste at source. The city does not have garbage bins and often the garbage is thrown on the roadside. Only two dumper placers are available with the NPP, and the waste is being transported in open dumper placers. The  disposal of the garbage is being done in unscientific way, as the single disposal site is around 7 kms away from the city. With around 485 permanent sweepers and 265 contractual sweepers, the NPP, Mathura is still unable to  provide satisfactory services."

 

Solid waste management alongwith drainage is the most poorly delivered service. The city produces around 200 MT waste daily. Due to lack of infrastructure and manpower only half the garbage can be transported to open dumping sites on the outskirts of the city which has more than 200 dairies and 50 odd nursing homes.

 

All the hard work done by various agencies and local industries in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone, extending over 10,000 sq km and home to numerous monumental marvels, to contain environmental pollution now seems wasted and proving counter-productive.

 

This Diwali, municipal authorities have had a tough time collecting garbage and dumping it into landfill sites that are already overflowing. The dry river bed,  Yamuna's flow reduced to a trickle, is hardly sufficient to dilute pollutants flowing down from upstream industrial clusters.

 

Not just air and water pollution, a new variant "visual pollution"  is hurting esthetic sensibilities.  The filthy stink and the callously littered garbage are ugly eyesores for pilgrims and tourists.

 

Despite the much hyped ho and halla of prime minister's cleanliness drive, the whole Braj region seems to be sinking into a civilisational sink.

 

"Leave the cantonment area, move around the city and you will have real 'darshan' of hell. The colonies and the mohallas are neck deep in human waste. The sewer lines are choked, the open drains are filled with waste.

 

Thanks to Supreme Court intervention, the industrial pollution has come down, as manufacturing units have switched over to natural gas. But Mathura's problem is from the numerous silver plating units, and the saree dying units that use a lot of water and release toxic wastes which directly reach the river.