Act against Aami polluters,Jayanthi tells Maya

Her intervention in the issue of Aami river pollution comes after several such high-profile interventions by a string of Union ministers in recent months,reportedly on the prodding of Rahul Gandhi who is personally leading the Congress election campaign in UP.

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had visited Varanasi to announce a package for distressed weavers,Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad had visited Gorakhpur and announced steps to deal with the encephalitis epidemic in eastern UP,Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi had visited Fursatganj and announced setting up of a national aviation university,Minister of State for Railways KH Muniyappa had also visited Rae Bareli to announced that the rail coach factory there would be inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi soon.

The pollution of Aami river has affected livelihood of people living along the river in a large number of villages. The Congress has fielded Vishwavijay Singh,who is the face of the Save Aami river campaign,as its candidate from Sahjanwa in Gorkahpur.

The Congress on Thursday distributed a statement,giving details of CPCB findings on Aami river pollution and what all the Union Environment Ministry had done for water conservation in the state,specifically in eastern UP.

In her letter to Mayawati,Natarajan wrote,“CPCB has conducted a survey on the status of pollution of river Aami in district Gorakhpur. As per their report,the condition of river Aami has deteriorated due to discharge of industrial wastewater from Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA) as well as discharge of untreated municipal sewage.”

Informing the Chief Minister that six major industries were polluting the river because their effluent treatment plants were either not functioning properly or not operational,Natarajan wrote that due to this the ground water in surrounding villages like Katka,Jalheri etc had been found “unfit for drinking”.

Besides,the municipal solid waste of Gorakhpur town was being dumped on the banks of the Rapti river because of which the water quality in Rapti has also deteriorated,she said.