VANISHING GHATS OF YAMUNA

HUNDREDS of Krishna Bhakts return disappointed and deeply frustrated each day from river Yamuna, when they can’t take a holy dip or achman even on festivals, because of the filth and effluents, heaps of dirt and dead bodies flowing down from cities upstream of Agra.

Reduced to a pale, sickly nullah, the glory and grandeur of Yamuna that attracted the Mughals to build some of the finest monuments like the Taj and Etmauddaula along its banks, will never return, lament the residents of the Yamuna Kinara road.

While the younger folks have generally stayed away from the stinking river which holds no charm for them, people of the older generations do occasionally venture out to conduct ritualistic pujas and baths. The dozen odd ghats along the river front which once was the center of a thriving commercial activity and river culture have disappeared without a trace, reducing the ten kilometer long river front to a vast wasteland.

From Kailash temple to Dussehra Ghat adjacent to the Taj, there were more than a score pucca ghats, some of red sand stones others of marble. Behind the Red Fort there were pucca ghats with highly decorative canopies for the royal females of the Mughals.

Some ghats fell prey to man’s indifference, others were razed to the ground by zealous bureaucrats at late Sanjay Gandhi’s orders during the emergency to make way for a picturesque river front like Mumbai’s Chowpati. But before that dream could materialize politics took a U turn and Indira Gandhi was swept out of power in 1977 elections.

Today, the river of decadence is an eyesore. Those who take the Yamuna Kinara road are often seen covering their noses to keep away the foul odour of the stinking mess.

Goswami Hari Mohan Shrotriya of the Mathuradheesh temple laments “those were the days when the whole city of Agra used to spend leisurely summer evenings on the river bank which had a long row of temples, when children used to feed the tortoises and a whole lot of cultural and religious activities used to be performed  here. But now the people have turned away and have even forgotten there’s a river in the city.”

Hathi Ghat near the fort still survives but the whole area has been rampaged by transport companies whose vehicles are parked there. Nathi Lal of Katcheri Ghat warns: “if the ghats disappear, the river culture, the annual melas and tamashas, the tairaki (swimming contests, patangbazi and the mass bathing programmes on festivals would vanish too.”

NGOs like the Yamuna Foundation for Blue Water and Jan Abhiyan Samiti have been exerting pressure on the government agencies to take up cleanliness drives, build pucca ghats and dredge out silt from the river bed to hold back monsoon overflow, but so far there has been no positive response. ENDS

When thousands of devouts all along the river bank in Agra took a holy dip on Ganga Dussehra Monday morning, they came out cursing and abusing the powers that be for the stinking and polluted water in Yamuna. 

Each day hundreds of Krishna Bhakts in Vrindavan, Mathura and Agra return disappointed and deeply frustrated  from river Yamuna, when they can’t take a holy dip or achman even on festivals, because of the filth and effluents, heaps of dirt and dead bodies flowing down.
 
Reduced to a pale, sickly nullah, the glory and grandeur of Yamunathat attracted the Mughals to build some of the finest monuments like the Taj and Etmauddaula along its banks, will never return, lament the residents of the Yamuna Kinara road.
 
While the younger folks have generally stayed away from the stinking river which holds no charm for them, people of the older generations do occasionally venture out to conduct ritualistic pujas and baths.

The dozen odd ghats along the river front which once was the center of a thriving commercial activity and river culture have disappeared without a trace, reducing the ten kilometer long river front to a vast wasteland.
 
From Kailash temple to Dussehra Ghat adjacent to the Taj, there were more than a score pucca ghats, some of red sand stones others of marble. Behind the Red Fort there were pucca ghats with highly decorative canopies for the royal females of the Mughals.
 
Some ghats fell prey to man’s indifference, others were razed to the ground by zealous bureaucrats at late Sanjay Gandhi’s orders during the emergency to make way for a picturesque river front like Mumbai’s Chowpati. But before that dream could materialize politics took a U turn and Indira Gandhi was swept out of power in 1977 elections.
 
Today, the river of decadence is an eyesore. Those who take theYamuna Kinara road are often seen covering their noses to keep away the foul odour of the stinking mess.

Goswami Hari Mohan Shrotriya of the Mathuradheesh temple laments “those were the days when the whole city of Agra used to spend leisurely summer evenings on the river bank which had a long row of temples, when children used to feed the tortoises and a whole lot of cultural and religious activities used to be performed  here. But now the people have turned away and have even forgotten there’s a river in the city.”
 
Hathi Ghat near the fort still survives but the whole area has been rampaged by transport companies whose vehicles are parked there. Nathi Lal of Katcheri Ghat warns: “if the ghats disappear, the river culture, the annual melas and tamashas, the tairaki (swimming contests, patangbazi and the mass bathing programmes on festivals would vanish too.”
 
NGOs like the Yamuna Foundation for Blue Water and Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society have been exerting pressure on the government agencies to take up cleanliness drives, build puccaghats and dredge out silt from the river bed to hold back monsoon overflow, but so far there has been no positive response.

To add to the confusion, a new bridge being constructed on the river, opposite Etmauddaula, has only worsened the situation. "We do not know what the series of Yamuna Action Plans have accomplished so far. The result is largely zero," says Jal Purush Ram Avtar Sharma.