Opp targets BJP over CPCB findings on Sabarmati river pollution

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president Isudan Gadhvi said, “They kept attacking (Delhi chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal for pollution in Yamuna river, but here Sabarmati is the second most polluted river. Not only Sabarmati, there are 12 other polluted rivers in Gujarat. I ask the BJP government, the chief minister and other ministers, what steps are you planning to take in this regard? Forget about drinking water, (the Sabarmati river) is not even suitable for bathing”.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, after the Gujarat High Court took up the matter, the government has claimed to spend Rs 300 crore in five years on river cleaning projects. “Yet this is the state,” he said.

Stating how Modi government talks about climate change, but is “rolling out red carpet for the heavy polluting industries in the name of development”, Doshi said, “In Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) “hafta rajya” (commission regime) is going on. Given the sins of the BJP, water of many rivers including Sabarmati is not fit to drink. BJP used GPCB to win elections. This has happened due to the conspiracies and exploits of GPCB.”

The CPCP report of November 2022 was annexed in the reply by the Jal Shakti ministry to a question by Congress MP from Assam Abdul Khaleque on Thursday.

According to the report, water quality of 25 rivers in Gujarat was monitored at 64 locations over 2019 and 2021 out of which 13 rivers were found non-compliant to the prescribed water quality criteria as far as the Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) was concerned.

In the stretch between Raysan and Vautha on the Sabarmati river, a BOD level of 292 mg/litre was recorded which is the second highest in the country after Cooum river in Chennai that recorded 345 mg/l of BOD between Avadi and Sathyanagar.

Bhadar, Amalkhadi, Bhogavo, Bhukhi Khadi, Damanganga, Chanod, Kothada, Khari, Mahi Kotna, Mindhola, Shedhi, Nizar, Vishwamitri, were the other rivers in Gujarat found with high BOD levels.