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On Sunday, members of Citizens For Green Doon squatted in the dried river bed of Bindal River to focus the attention of the Government and the people on the degradation of the river into a drain. A call of “Bindal Bachaoo” or “Save the Bindal” was raised and members expressed their agony at the slow but steady drying up of the river. Speaking on the occasion Dr Nitin Pandey, member of CFGD, said that just about 50yrs ago, Bindal was a fresh water river, where people used to bathe even in summers and the water was teeming with fishes. Gradually the water in the river has decreased and now it has literally turned into a drain. He said that besides global warming, local factors have caused the river to dry up. Excessive felling of trees and extensive encroachments have contributed to the rivers ill health. He said that there are over 6000 encroachments on the river bed and while one can understand the encroachments by poor helpless people living in slums, it is very sad to see rich and powerful people encroaching the river bed at its source in Rajpur. He said that the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee had repeatedly written to the Government to remove the encroachments in the river bed, the government for unknown reasons had been sitting silently on the issue. He also reminded the government of its plans to plant trees along its banks and to shift out the slum dwellers.
Anjali Bhatia, another CFGD activist said “Rivers are the lifeline of any city and we are all appalled at filth which is strewn all over the river bed. She said that both the rives of Dehra Dun, Bindal and Rispana, have been harmed by greed of human beings and the same thing is being replicated in Tons River, where encroachments have recently started. If we do not act now, in a few years there will be no river left” A “Wall of Expression” was put up by CFGD members on the Bindal bridge, showing the origin of the river from Rajpur Hills and it’s subsequent degradation as it traversed the city. Passerby's were seen interacting with the volunteers of CFGD and were given pamphlets on the issue. People staying in the slums also participated in the event and called upon the government to give them alternative accommodation so that they could move to a safer place. Most of them said that they want to shift out as the river floods during the monsoons and every year people get killed. Besides the high tension wires going overhead pose a great danger to the inhabitants of the slums. Children of the slum dwellers came with beautifully painted posters calling on the government to save the river. Among those who participated included Col. Mrs Pushpa Bhandari, Ruchi Singh Rao, Sonia Pandey, Laksha Mehta, Himanshu Arora, Surbhi Arora, Priya Maheshwari, Dhruv Mehtaby Shruti Kaushik |
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