Jal Shakti minister says Chennai, Bengaluru will become Cape Town if people don't act to save water
New Delhi: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat warned on Wednesday that if people still don't understand their responsibility to save water, a large part of India's population will be severely affected and Chennai and Bangalore "will become Cape Town".
Water crisis in Cape Town peaked during 2017-18 when the South African capital almost ran out of water. It then introduced the idea of Day Zero, when most of the port city's taps would be turned off to focus everyone's attention on managing water consumption.
Rapid urbanisation, burgeoning population and poor water management have led to taps drying, groundwater levels falling, and lakes becoming toxic, froth-filled in Bangalore. A large number of people have no access to piped water and are dependent on water tankers. The situation in Chennai, another metropolis, is no better.
Shekhawat said water availability per capita has come down from 5,000 cubic metres at the time of Independence to 1,540 cubic metres. "If it continues to decline and the population continues to increase, not only Chennai and Bangalore will become Cape Town, a large part of India's population will be affected," he said.
Citing Justice Swatanter Kumar, former chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, he said in India, people worship rivers. Still, it has the most-contaminated water resources. On an average, India gets 1,068 mm rain and 4,000 million cubic metres of water per year through precipitation, yet it's a water-scarce country, the Union minister said. Israel, which gets 100 mm rain per year, is water-abundant and exporting the resource.
Despite all constitutional provisions, India lacks the same responsibility towards saving water and the environment that prevailed before Independence through an unwritten set of fundamental, cultural principles, he said.
"In India, people talk more about rights and less about responsibilities... The government is certainly responsible, but it's also the responsibility of the people and the industry," he said.
Shekhawat said everything was perfect when people were the custodians of natural resources. "Problem began when we started considering ourselves owners of natural resources."
"India is the most groundwater-dependent country in the world. Still, it's total water retention capacity is below 300 million cubic metres," the minister said, emphasizing the need to conserve water and recharge aquifers.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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