SWARNREKHA-OUR RIVER OF GOLD

Our pledge towards the environment strange as it may sound coming from a small town where siestas are a regular affair as our attunement to the past sirens of the steel plant drowned probably in the chaotic affairs of nonsensical indulgences, the revelation of this blatant abuse of the environment runs partly through the course of the Swarnrekha.She is a river devoutly kind and abused till she can breathe no more. Running through her path and expected to grow ever more in her richness after the confluence of the Kharkai, the disguises of developments are ever so revealed on either side. On her left is the embankment revealing soil that supports greenery inspite of degradation and careless afforestation while to her right, her embankment has been lost to the growth of a steel plant. It has plainly usurped her insainly.What once remained a thickly forested area houses presently a stretch called the marine drive built on a mountain of slag produced by the gigantic steel plant. The intention portrayed as noble and the exercise to the benefit of flood ravaged areas, causation only in the later years for reasons of frenetic deforestation and soil inundation; the slag supports no life while a machine works tirelessly to level the mother of all heaps. The dumps laying bare the shamelessness of the custodian of a city which in all our innocence we believed to be correct on the path to development, we alas have lost her pristine beauty to the chaotic affair of rampant and careless industrialisation which seeks only profit, profit and more profit. The river is our source of livelihood, of maturity and growth for the future generations. A public Interest Litigation too we believe was once filed but in the midst of our feel for what may be blue, green and black; we have forgotten the real significance of green. Algae on the surface is an apparent disclosure and effluents discharged by municipalities as if the curse of slag was not enough to stifle her, a notice from the state pollution control board is all that has been heard of. It too in due course for all our indifference would be lost for want of apathy, concern and indulgences towards preservation of the only home mankind has ever known. Writing a paper on atomic energy some years ago as part of academic pursuit, the river too it was revealed was getting a fair share of effluent (vide ground water contamination and of tributaries and water bodies) which otherwise causes wide spread radiation. Plastic and polythene, the new age man's strangest fascination clogs the river. Unmindful of discarding offerings made to gods in these water and air proof clothing for discarded produce of nature's bounties, little in the form of awareness is made to generate save the little children who came along for the immersion of the goddess of learning. They are the real custodians and the pictures speak more than any man could ever write about. The present initiative we write not to gain an audience with any starlets or cine stars but with our conviction that the fourth estate shall also take the pledge to awaken those moribund souls, more so with the campaign being held in aid of TERI. The slag dumped to create an embankment is loosely bound and mounds of it continuously slip into the river. There are no trees for the wonder of earth was never understood by the corporations. Their boards alongside are a complete mockery of what nature for eternity has offered. Rivers around the world and especially India where they have been worshipped for eons have shaped civilisations and the precursor to lighting a billion lives should be that one light which says purify yourselves and I shall flow through thee. The river's purity and sanctity we have pledged to restore and no corporations how mighty they be can ever rob her of her innate sacredness. She is the elixir of our lives and shall continue shaping our destinies which we are obligated to write too ourselves. Contributed by Dev, a std.XI student, Mohan a photographer,Amit a freelance media person and so many more like us especially those little children who have their faith instilled in the goddess of learning,Saraswati who thought to have long dried up at Prayag still flows silently given our faith in the confluence of rivers, minds and ableness.The pictures with the write up are the horrific belongings of and emanate from the stretch where the River passes through the city of jamshedpur or Tatanagar in Jharkhand,built around the steel plant called the Tata Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.whose due respect to Her is its responsibility. TERI alongwith NDTV should pledge to join to support our modest campaign and acknowledge the harm done during the commissioning of such a grotesque crime. Half the battle would then be already won.