3 crore 80 Lakh Kaanwadiyas came to Uttarakhand but garbage of 3 crore kilograms left behind

The Uttarakhand government is patting its back for the successful conduction of KANWAD YATRA in Uttarakhand claiming that 3 crore 80 lakh “Kanvadiyas, have visited Haridwar n Gangotri to collect pious Ganges water from various states of the country but the fact of the matter is that according to a TOI report unimaginable about three crore kilogram of garbage, plastic bottles etc have been left behind not to talk of massive urination and release of excreta in view of the acute shortage of Urinals and lavatories provided by the administration.

According to a tweet by a renowned social activist of Uttarakhand Anoop Nautiyal : Complete integration of @SwachBharatGov Mission during #ChardhamYatra,#KanwarYatra is absolute need of hour in #Uttarakhand. Today’s ( 28 th July) TOI reports 30K MT ( 3 crore kilo) garbage left behind in the recent Kanwar Yatra. We need planning, preparation n performance to handle this better tweeted Anoop Nautiyal.

Not only this but the Covid 19 cases too have enhanced during the Kaanwad Yatra, season in Uttarakhand reminding of the most worrisome Kumbh Yatra experience of the last year in April when about 1.5 lakh pilgrims and people of Uttarakhand in Haridwar were infected of dreaded epidemic, leading to several deaths and involvement of few medical firms in fake testings etc.

The moot question is have we not learnt lessons from the past blunders? I think absolutely not.

While, it’s quite understandable that the right to preach or carry on the Kaanwad Yatra can’t be restricted or stopped keeping in view the tremendous faith of pilgrims on this festival but is – it not our moral and basic duty and responsibility to exercise self restraint and maintain cleanliness keeping the pious pilgrimage – township of Haridwar and all the spots like Gangotri, Yamunotri, Rishikesh, Kedarnath n Badrinath etc pollution free, maintaining the dignity of piousness and cleanliness? Lot is being talked about regarding providing lavatories in the country, but in Haridwar and elsewhere there had been extremely shortage of toilets and other means of cleanliness during the ongoing Kanwad Yatra with Haridwar and various pious locations of Uttarakhand becoming the places of merrymaking and enjoyment. What is most worrisome is the fact that about six Kanwariyas allegedly killed a fellow Kanwadia in Muzaffar Nagar, finally being arrested n put behind bars. They belonged to Haryana having thrashed to death another Kanwadia with lathi blows taking the law of the land in their hands.

All the Ganga Ghats are full of rubbish, garbage and plastics measuring in tons including lot of garbage amalgamating in pious Ganges, thus polluting the holy river.

Is this the way, we pay obeisance to our deities under the guise of worshipping Ganga, Maiyya and Lord Shiva – question the right thinking people and enlightened environmentalists. Where are the arrangements? What is the system doing despite allocation of massive budget, ask people ? Aren’t we duty bound to maintain the environment and ecology and the piousness of the smooth flowing Ganges serving and feeding our nation.

Though the festivals and rituals of the nation need to take place regularly but we should also think of contributing immensely to maintain the piousness of our rivers, mountains and its ecology n environment.

The government should in future apply checks on such irresponsible acts and charge cess from those visiting these areas in order to inculcate in them the sense of responsibility to keep the area they visit – clean, plastic n garbage free and fully sanitised.

Uttarakhand is considered as the land of God’s which has four historic religious/ spiritual destinations where lakhs of pilgrims n tourists visit to pay their obeisance and seek blessings day in n day out.

But instead of thanking the state of Uttarakhand, we overburden it with lakhs of tons of rubbish, plastics n garbage of our undergarments , plastic bottles and what not, forgetting that we are actually insulting our deities than worshipping them.

According to another tweet of Anoop Nautiyal : Every fourth person tested today ( 28 th July) in the district of Dehradun has turned out to be Covid positive. With 178 positives out of total 688 tests, today’s ( 28 July) positivity rate is 25% plus. This is clearly a matter if concern for all of us, authorities and citizens alike. Pl. Be safe and take care tweeted Nautiyal, a renowned social activist of Uttarakhand n former DG of 108.