PURIFY OUR RIVERS
Man settled down first in the banks of rivers. That is why ancient civilizations, they are river valley civilizations. Rivers provided man with one of the most important necessities of life i.e. water. Later become the easiest mode of transport. Early man depended on rivers so much that he believed them to be heavenly gift-River is gift of nature.
When towns and cities appeared on the banks of the river, the situation changed. All the waste, including organic wastes from the factories dumped in to the rivers. Rivers once the brilliant bracelets of nature became ugly scars, they carried poison. They contained all kinds of disease germs.
The Europeans were the first to realize the grewity of the situation. They immediately dirtying of river were prohibited by law. River banks were cleaned and parks appeared them. Now their rivers are their pride.
The situation is true for India as far as dirtying rivers is concerned. But several rivers of India are closely related to Hindu-Mythology, so it is not easy to protect the rivers by law. Destruction of plant life on the bank has cancelled soil erosion. The soil has made the river shallow.
Our former Prime minister is bent up on getting Ganga cleaned. So one of the first step should be to teach people the necessity of keeping the river clean. The second step is to enlist the services of the volunteer organization. Only such people can tell people in their language. Now important the project is documentary films showing how the European countries make the rivers clean will be useful. The other rivers need not wait till Ganga is made clean and beautiful. States should take up the work of cleaning the rivers.
At the same time research work should be done to see that water from the factories are disposed in a safe way damage canals should not open in to rivers. Inhabitants of river banks should see their part of the river is kept clean.
Cleaning river is very difficult task. But it should be accomplished. Rivers are not just carriers of water. They are the arteries of the nature. Let them bring pure water the nature will die. We can have our factories away from rivers. This is a national problem we must begin before it is too late.