Ganges) in India with Reference to Allahabad-Uttar Pradesh
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Water Resources Management VI 525 Irrigation pressure vs sustenance needs of the great river Ganga (Ganges) in India with reference to Allahabad-Uttar Pradesh A. Kumar Department of Botany, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Govt. Degree College, Allahabad, India Abstract Ganga, a symbol of purity and plentyness of water in Indian culture and literature, is struggling for its existence today. It is mainly because of uplifting of over 80% river water for irrigation in Upper Ganga Canals responsible for yielding more than 3.55 million tons of wheat alone in western Uttar Pradesh apart from other crops like rice, sugarcane, etc. Tehri Dam, built for generation of electricity (2400MW), irrigation (8700 km2) and domestic water supply, is also limiting water flow in the river. The critically reduced water level, added with enormous amount of domestic and industrial effluents, is disquieting citizens of the country, particularly during month-long bathing festival (Kumbha Mela) of Prayag (Allahabad) in winter when water level reaches at its lowest ebb. Though the government is trying hard to regulate the discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluents into the river, however, some age old religious practices such as throwing of the remains of various Hindu rituals, floral offerings, carcasses of certain animals, partially burnt bodies and ashes from pyres, etc. can not be controlled forcefully. Since these activities are associated with faith and sentiments, they could be countered only by motivation and awakening created under a higher religious umbrella. Our attempt is to sensitize the people against these practices by taking help of Vedas – the highest religious scriptures of the Hindus. Quotes/axioms from Vedas and related scriptures preventing water/river pollution are making great impact over the religious folks during our environmental education camps and we have come to the conclusion that apart from various pollution abatement measures, Vedic dictates are of great help in creating environmental awakening among public in general and religious WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 145, © 2011 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) doi:10.2495/WRM110461 526 Water Resources Management VI folks in particular for not to pollute water and water reservoirs, especially the great river Ganga, by their own hands. Keywords: Allahabad, Prayag, clean Ganga campaign, Ganga and Ganga canals, Kumbh/Mahakumbh festivals, Magh Mela, river pollution. 1 Introduction Ganga is a faith, more than a river with which people of India are attached to spiritually and emotionally for their psycho-religious and socio-cultural activities from time immemorial. Hindu belief holds that bathing in the river absolves human beings of all sins and helps him/her to attain salvation. People travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of their kin in Ganga to let the soul rest in peace in heaven. Needless to mention, people of India earnestly wish the river full of clean water throughout the year but at the same time, the country needs more food grains, more electricity and more water for its citizens as well. Since the western part of Uttar Pradesh, situated in the Gangetic plains, has very fertile land most suitable for the production of wheat crops, the government is under an obligation to provide the best possible irrigation facilities to the farmers of the area for which more than 80% Ganga water is lifted for irrigation purposes in Upper Ganga Canals. Likewise, Tehri Dam (a multipurpose river valley project meant for the generation of 2400 MW electricity, irrigation stabilization to an area of 6,000 km² at present (to be extended to an additional area of 2,700 km² of irrigation stabilization in the future) built on the river Bhagirathi (Ganga is known as Bhagirathi before its confluence with river Alaknanda at Deoprayag in the Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttarakhand) is also responsible for the reduction of water in the river [1]. The demand of Ganga water increases enormously in winter (December- February) each year to irrigate wheat crops. Consequently, most of the river water is lifted for irrigation during these months and the great river runs with much more concentration of domestic and industrial effluents while this is the time when the world famous Kumbh festival of Prayag (Allahabad) falls in. It is one of the most holy bathing festivals of India where pilgrims/devotees from every nook and corner of the country and abroad congregate for having a holy dip in the river. The poor religious people, mostly uneducated rural masses, take a bath in the river for redemption from their sins, but virtually, they bathe in a toxic concentrate of pollutants. This condition is agitating social organizations, religious heads and the common men of the country for raising their voice against the quality and quantity of water available in the river Ganga. Spiritual seers and celebrities across the country are waging a battle against the misdeeds of industry and mismanagement of State machinery to save the dying river. Spiritual heads representing most of the religious groups across India have launched the ‘Save the Ganga Campaign’ with a strong demand of ‘Awiral Ganga, Nirmal Ganga’ (continuously flowing Ganga, clean Ganga) from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar, which aims to clean up the river right from its source in the Himalayas to where it drains into the Bay of Bengal. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 145, © 2011 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) Water Resources Management VI 527 The government has to maintain equilibrium between both the extremes where it may not even reduce the uplifting of Ganga water required for irrigation nor ignore the public demands for clean and free-flowing water in the river. Needless to state that Ganga Canals are not only the source of agricultural prosperity in the area, but if the government reduces the uplifting of Ganga water in wheat crop season, the farmers will immediately switch over to tube wells to irrigate their crops leading to disastrous depletion of ground water in this heavily populated area [2]. In the circumstances, the only option left is to make and keep the Ganga clean with whatever water is available in it after lifting the water required for irrigation. 2 Major canals uplifting Ganga water for irrigation The two main canal systems viz. Upper Ganga Canals and Lower Ganga Canals drastically reduce water level in the river reaching Allahabad (Prayag). After having a long journey in the Himalayas and collecting water from its tributaries in the hills, Ganga enters in its gangetic plains at Haridwar where much of its water is lifted in Upper Ganga Canals. Starting from Haridwar, the canal traverses Meerut and Bulandshahr and continues to Nanu in Aligarh District where it bifurcates into the Kanpur and Etawah branches. Originally constructed from 1842 to 1854 for an original head discharge of 6000 ft³/s, the Upper Ganges Canal has since been enlarged gradually for the present head discharge of 10,500 ft³/s. The system consists of main canal of 272 miles and about 4000 miles long distribution channels. The canal system irrigates nearly 9,000 km² of fertile agricultural land in western Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, starting at Narora, Lower Ganges Canals are extended up to 5,120 miles (8,240 km) with its branches. A channel from a weir at Narora intersects the canal system 48 km downstream from Nanu, and continues past the Sengur River and Sersa River, past Shikohabad to Manpuri district to become the Bhognipur branch which was opened in 1880. This branch, starting at village Jera in Mainpuri district, runs for 166 km to reach Kanpur. At kilometre 64 the Balrai escape carries excess water through a 6.4 km. channel through the ravines to discharge into the Yamuna. This branch has 386 km. of distributary channels. The old channels of Kanpur and Etawah branches between Nanu and the point of intersection by the channel from Narora, are known as “stumps”, and are utilized only when the supply of water in the lower Ganges system runs low [3]. The economics of Ganga water lifted for irrigation can be understood in terms of virtual water concept: the water that is used in the production process of agricultural or industrial products [4]. For the production of one ton of cereals in Indian conditions, 3000 tons of virtual water is required. India produces 78 million tons of wheat every year out of which 3.55 million tons of wheat is produced in western Uttar Pradesh irrigated by Ganga water through Upper Ganga Canals [5]. One can very well understand and calculate the amount and cost of water in producing 3.55 million tons of wheat every year by Ganga water in western Uttar Pradesh apart from other crops in this area. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 145, © 2011 WIT Press www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) 528 Water Resources Management VI 3 Ganga: from myth to reality Since time immemorial, Hindus have always believed that Ganga water is divine in nature and has potential to cure and clean/pure body and soul of all the creatures on this planet. In Indian culture and civilization, Ganga has acquired the status of a mother Goddess and synonym of all the rivers in which plenty of pure water is flowing round the year. Likewise, ‘Ganga Jal’ has become the synonym of pure, Pavitra (pious) and drinkable/potable water. Hindus attach so much reverence to the Ganga water that no Hindu rituals, from birth to death, cannot be consecrated without Ganga water. In 1896, Hanbury Hankin (a British Physician) after testing the water of Ganga wrote in a paper published in the French Journal ’Annales de Institut Pasteur’ that the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae which causes the deadly cholera disease, when put into Ganga water died within three hours.