Environmentalist seeks FIR for ‘attempt to murder’ Yamuna river, now a living entity

Brij Khandelwal, founder of River Connect Campaign, has blamed officials, including Agra district magistrate, Agra divisional commissioner and general manager of Agra Jal Sansthan, for “attempting to kill the river by slow poison”.

Motivated by Uttarakhand high court orders declaring rivers Ganga and Yamuna living entities, an environmentalist in Agra has asked the Agra police to register a case against those “guilty of attempt to murder” the Yamuna.

The unfiltered water of dirty drains, besides the sewer, continues to flow into Yamuna, which has resulted in drastic reduction of oxygen levels of the river over the years. (HT File Photo)

Brij Khandelwal, the activist, has blamed officials of various departments, including Agra district magistrate, Agra divisional commissioner and general manager of Agra Jal Sansthan, for “attempting to kill the river by slow poison”.

The unfiltered water of dirty drains, besides the sewer, continues to flow into Yamuna despite crores received for sewage treatment from state and central governments, Khandelwal said in his letter to Agra SSP.

“Using this amount, the river could have been otherwise saved, but despite having a sewage treatment plant, such untreated water is added to the river,” he said, urging the SSP to file an FIR in this regard.

“The level of dissolved oxygen has drastically fallen and is an outcome of negligence of these officials... which has caused huge damage to river Yamuna resulting in loss of aquatic life,” Khandelwal, who is also the founder of River Connect Campaign, said.

‘For years together, efforts are on for construction of Agra Barrage to save Yamuna but due to lack of efforts by these erring officials, the scheme could not be completed and the river thus lacks required water level,” he said.

Khandelwal also drew attention to the rampant encroachment on the river banks, and blamed the Agra Development Authority for the negligence.