PM Modi launches river conservation project in Madhya Pradesh to ensure pollution-free Narmada.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Narmada Seva Mission for the conservation of the crucial river, which is a lifeline of Madhya Pradesh.

Launching the Narmada Seva Mission in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, Modi, appeared at his reverent best. His speech preceded the recital of Hindu chants at the Narmada temple. During his speech he extolled the place of the Narmada in Hindu shastras, referring to it as Ma.

“It is a perfect document of future vision, it should be sent to all other states,” he said of the Narmada Seva mission plan document prepared by the Madhya Pradesh government.

The yatra was launched on December 11 last year projecting it as the world’s “biggest river conservation campaign with public participation.”

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state envisaged the initiative as a people’s movement to protect the highly polluted river.

Over the years, most efforts to clean up Indian rivers have run into the sand. Politicians and environmentalists differ over how to do the job, green laws are lax and most cleaning projects are blighted by corruption and delays. With large stretches still contaminated by toxic waste and sewage, the $3 billion plan to clean the Ganga – India’s showcase river conservation project -- is set to miss its 2018 deadline.

Narmada river captured the attention of the nation when it became the centre of a decades-long struggle to stop the raising of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Medha Patkar led the campaign that demonstrators said would displace thousands, who were not being compensated.

This is a Narmada Bachao Andolan of a different kind, the kind that enjoys the wholehearted blessings of the Madhya Pradesh state government, the Narendra Modi led-central government and the environment minister for state, Anil Madhav Dave.

River conservation has been in sharp focus since Modi’s government came to power. It set up a ministry to clean up the Ganga; it encouraged river festivals; and promoted a bunch of other rivers also considered holy by many Hindus, prompting critics to allege the ruling BJP was using these conservation campaigns to appeal to religious sentiments and consolidate its support base along faith lines.

The Central Pollution Control Board recently found that at least in three stretches of the Narmada, water quality is not even good for bathing.

A 2016 study that analysed water samples from four different points of the river in two seasons-- dry and wet in 2014-15-- found that the water was not conducive to sustain aquatic life or to be used for domestic purposes.

Last week at a seminar the minister of state for environment Anil Madhav Dave said that if Narmada river was not protected, its basin would turn into a cricket ground.

Dave had founded ‘Narmada Samagra’ which aimed at protecting the river, before he became the environment minister.

www.hindustantimes.com