Drive to clean Kosi river again on Nov 7
Drive to clean Kosi river again on Nov 7
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Nov 1
A campaign to clean Kosi river, the lifeline of Almora district, “will be resumed from November 7, as per officials of the Almora district administration.
“We have divided the Kosi flowing area into 31 Zones and 62 sectors from cleanliness drive point of view. The volunteers will clean near 500 meters area by the bank’s of the river so that the river flow could remain clean,” said Anshul Singh, Chief Development Officer (CDO), Almora.
Over 3500 volunteers including volunteers from all 34 villages situated along the river, school children, SDRF ,PRD Jawan and volunteers from self help groups will take part in the one day campaign.”The campaign will run in entire flowing area of the river in Almora district,” said the officer.
The Kosi river, that originated from 2500 meters high Dharpani Dhar source of Bageshwar district, travels a total of 168 km in Bageshwar, Almora and Nainital districts before it merges into Ramagnga river in Terai region of UP.
“The river is formed by over 14 rivulets and 1200 other natural water sources, and has gone slow in flow due to less flow of water in it following drying of most of the natural sources feeding the river,” said Dr Kirit Kumar, a scientist with GB Pant Himalayan Institute of Environment and Development at Katarmal Kosi, in Almora district.
Basanti Devi, a ‘Sarvodaya’ social worker, who was awarded with ‘Padma Shri’ award, last year by the Government of India for her 20 years long continuous campaign in Kosi region villages to save the river, saids that until the villagers living near the river would not be made aware of the necessity of its cleanliness, the campaign would be a non-starter.
” The cleanliness of Kosi, should be a continuous practice by villagers, situated by it and passengers travelling on the road besides the river should be aware and wholeheartedly work for its’ cleanliness , otherwise such campaigns could be a mere formality ,” said Basanti Devi.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had also announced his commitment for revival of Kosi in Almora and Rispana in Dehradun, just after he took over as Chief Minister in 2017 but nothing much onthe ground happened. The present Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has also promised to do the needful..
“Due to uncontrolled litter into the river, the Kosi water has gone dirty and not potable despite the fact that most of the villages and the town of Almora are dependent for their water needs on Kosi river, ” said the Almora CDO.
