30 Minutes: The Ganga is dying

CHOKED TO THE BRIM: India's most sacred river, River Ganga, has been reduced to a sewage drain.

      

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Keywords: Sewage, Dolphins

Dolphins die as the Ganga chokes

Narora (Uttar Pradesh): The Gangetic dolphin is today as endangered as the tiger. CNN-IBN's Special Investigation found that toxic effluents from industries are poisoning both the Ganga and the dolphin.

Over a 100 factories in this UP belt empty toxic effluents into the Ganga, one of them being the Simbhaoli Sugarmill, which releases dirty black water full of toxic substances into the holy river everyday.

Local people complain that factories like Simbhaoli Sugarmill are operating in contravention of the Water Act, 1974.

"The water from handpump is salty and dirty. All comes from Simbhaoli and Goapljee," a villager says.

However, the sugar mill owners refuse to take the blame. "That black water is all sewage from the 20 villages located along the drain," Director, Simbhaoli Sugar Mill, Dr Rao says.

Effluents once released into the Ganga choke all life forms gradually. Reports available with CNN-IBN show high levels of the pesticide DDT found in the carcasses of dead dolphins.

And there's more trouble for the dolphins.

Over 50 dams and barrages have been built all along the Ganga and water has been diverted for agriculture. Dams create physical barriers that prevent migration of the dolphins leading to inbreeding.

The river is only three feet deep in this region and so the water level is too little making the dolphins isolated in shallow pools.

"They are so many threats. The dolphin needs as much protection as the tiger. It is a flagship species for the river. If the dolphin is gone tomorrow the river will also be dead," a scientist at WWF, Dr Sandeep Behera says.

If the dolphin is to be saved it's the river Ganga, which must be protected. And if the Ministry of Environment and Forests does not step in soon the only form in which you may see this magnificent creature will be a carcass.

(With inputs from Bahar Dutt)