Ganga pollution in Bihar serious: Bansal
An aerial survey of the Ganga river in Bihar on Saturday brought Union water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar closer to the alarming severity of the siltation and pollution in the river and need for more urgent remedies.
“I saw it (growing siltation) a very serious issue and we must take urgent measures soon to save the Ganga and reduce the constant threat of floods,” said Mr Bansal, whose survey of the river was in response to Mr Kumar’s request on April 17 for a personal familiarisation with the crisis. Along with Mr Kumar and Bihar water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Mr Bansal had the aerial survey of over 500 km of the river from Chausa in Buxar district to Farakka Barrage in Bhagalpur.
Growing industrial and urban pollution, constant siltation and natural erosion of banks are the foremost causes behind the holy river’s sad fate.
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Boat capsizes,7 feared dead
Tanya Bagchi
Kolkata, May 12
Seven persons, including a one-year-old girl, were feared drowned following a boat capsize in the river Hooghly at Konnagor in Hooghly district in the early hours of Saturday. The tragedy exposed the unlawful ferry service flourishing in the state.
Police said the boat was carrying 19 pilgrims and two oarsmen from Sukhchar in North 24 Parganas district to Konnagar when it capsized near the Baro Madirtala ghat. The pilgrims were going to Shakuntala Kalibari for a religious ritual. Some local residents immediately jumped into the river and rescued 11 persons.
On Saturday morning, one body, later identified as that Pampa Mondal, was recovered from the Shyam Mandir ghat in Khardah. Another body was found later in the day. The five who were missing are Mihir De, Rinki Sardar, Tapasi Sardar, Abhijit Mondal and a one year old baby girl Kakon Mondal.
According to one of the rescued passengers, at the beginning, only seven persons had boarded the boat. “But the oarsmen insisted on taking more passengers and the number eventually went up to 19. However, as the boat reached the mid-stream, we found water gushing in through a hole in the boat. It triggered panic prompting some people to jump into the river before the boat capsized. My daughter was on my brother’s lap and I saw them both drowning,” said a woman.
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