AGRA: In over 300 schools spread across nine districts of western Uttar Pradesh, the quality of water was found to be very poor, with high levels of very toxic chemicals. A Delhi-based environmentalist, after making these findingsy, has written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath about the matter, seeking an inquiry and indicting local administration as well as senior state bureaucrats for the situation.
Shailesh Singh based his conclusions on replies to RTI queries as well as government documents. The RTI replies revealed that the supplied water contained highly toxic elements such as arsenic and lead, and a high level of total dissolved solids, and also had a "pungent smell". The nine districts are Ghaziabad, Aligarh, GautamBudh Nagar, Bijnor, Rampur, Sambhal, Bulandshahr, Amroha and Hapur.
"The condition of ground water in these nine districts has gone from bad to worse due to lackadaisical approach of the officials concerned. The children who are studying in government primary and upper primary schools are the worst sufferers," Singh said.
The environmentalist and his associates have been gathering information about these districts through various channels for the last three years and found industries and slaughterhouses guilty of discharging effluents into rivers and drainage systems, which are ultimately absorbed into the ground water table.
Over 20 schools in the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation area, the survey found, had very high levels of toxic substances, and the water quality was very low. "The actual number of schools which face this problem in Ghaziabad will be much higher," Singh said.
"If you conduct an inquiry into the reasons behind the existing situation, you will not only be forced to take action against district magistrates, regional pollution control officers and principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board(UPPCB), but also against your chief secretary," Singh wrote in his letter to the UP CM, urging Adityanath to get a high-level assessment of the water quality done by a joint committee of the Central Pollution Control Board and a team from an Indian Institute of Technology.
There are six slaughterhouses, a chemical factory, a liquor production unit and 46 other factories which are chiefly responsible for pollution in Sambhal district alone, the team recorded. Effluents from these units flow into the Ganga and Ramganga through drains. "Despite this, all the factories have been given no-objection certificates by the UPPCB," Singh said.
"Based on my complaint against the Rampur liquor unit at the National Green Tribunal in 2015, the court in 2016 had ordered closure of the unit for three months, besides imposing a fine of Rs 1.25 crore on it. Moreover, pollution control department officials had been reprimanded. However, the situation has not improved," Singh said.
The environmentalist added that harmful chemicals like black liquor (effluent from the paper pulp manufacturing process), acids and even cyanide are being dumped in Bulandshahr by ceramic, metal and sugar factories. "The RTI replies have revealed that hand pump water is not suitable for drinking in as many as 40 schools in this district alone," Singh added.
