Pune's Sacred Indrayani River Is Choked By Toxic Foam
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Pune: The Indrayani, where lakhs of pilgrims take a dip throughout the year, is dirty, smelling and frothing. The foam stems from many million litres of untreated sewage and unchecked release of effluents.
Sustained neglect of the river is making it go the same way as the Mula-Mutha. Authorities promise action but little seems to change to keep it clean.
Rising
pollution
in the river since 2022 has prompted senior politicians — most recently deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and earlier, CM Devendra Fadnavis, as well as other ministers — to repeatedly and publicly declare that govt will work on a 'war footing' to stop release of untreated sewage waste into the river.
But action has not translated on ground.
The district administration and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) have also apparently done precious little to improve the river's health for years on end.
"For others, it is just a river. For us, it is no less than a mother," said Parshuram Patil Maharaj, a famous kirtankar (religious performer) who grew up in Alandi. "It is painful and disheartening to see the growing level of pollution in the Indrayani year after year.
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I am surprised nothing has been done in all these decades to improve its condition," he added.
How does the river get so polluted?
The around 100km journey of the river begins at Kurvande village near Lonavla's famous tourist place 'Tiger Point' in Maval tehsil. It flows through Talegaon Dabhade, Dehu (another pilgrim hub) and then comes to urban pockets of Pimpri Chinchwad before streaming down to Alandi. In the end, it merges into the Bhima river at Tulapur village in Haveli tehsil.
There are multiple reasons behind the river's pollution right from its origin. For one, a huge quantity of untreated sewage is released into it at multiple locations, as determined in a comprehensive survey by a team of MPCB officials in the recent past.
A senior MPCB official confirmed to TOI, "Lakhs of litres of untreated sewage from municipal councils of Lonavla, Dehu and Alandi are released daily into the river. There are some points where industrial effluents get released, too.
After our survey, we also served notices to these bodies and levied fines. But it has not improved the situation."
JS Salunkhe, regional officer of MPCB, Pune, said, "We have told all municipal bodies to treat their sewage before releasing it into the river. They have promised us that they would set up sewage treatment plants (STPs) to do this."
According to an MPCB report, existing STPs of PCMC require an upgrade to meet prescribed standards.
Further, a PMRDA pollution abatement project proposal, which involves setting up 18 more STPs along the Indrayani, is still pending approval.
"It is nothing but a blame game," said NGO Jeevitnadi founder Shailaja Deshpande, who has been working in the sphere of river conservation for over a decade."Officials fail to work on the ground. We have seen their efforts from close quarters all these years. Apart from serving notices to civic bodies, they do no concrete work.
It is a sad fact," she added.
Greens advocated for dedicated teams to monitor every river regularly and advised the authorities to conduct drone surveys to identify spots where the sewage is released into the river to keep a check. "Unless this is done, offenders will not take the issue seriously," said Deshpande.
Authorities engage in blame game
Asked about the issue, district collector Jitendra Dudi, told TOI that they are drafting a 'comprehensive' Indrayani river pollution clean-up plan.
However, he could not provide specific details, saying it is still at the development stage. "Each municipal council and PCMC will have to chip in to look after their respective stretches of the river," he said.
Activists said a workable and practical approach needs to be adopted. "Instead of looking for hypothetical solutions, the authorities should adopt a pragmatic approach to address this long-pending issue.
They should hire expert agencies and execute work through them. One solution is to establish STPs to treat sewage," said activist Arjun Medankar from Alandi.
Deshpande also said more stringent rules need to be introduced to punish violators, whether companies, housing societies, or more.
"Unless we have a strong deterrent mechanism, nobody will take govt agencies seriously. Often, MPCB serves notice to the violators.
If that was an effective solution, the desired results should have been achieved by now. That has not happened. A new approach is necessary to tackle this complex issue," added Medankar.
A section of MPCB officials said municipal bodies should appoint a dedicated squad to keep a watch on offenders. "For us, shortage of manpower is the biggest hurdle. That is why we serve notices and impose fines. If municipal bodies act at their level, things will change immediately on ground," said an MPCB official.
Massive health concerns for residents along banks
UN Champions of Earth awardee and well-known ecologist Madhav Gadgil earlier this year, while highlighting that not a single river in India is pollution-free, had spoken specifically about the Indrayani and noted, "It is full of poisonous foam."
Locals said this has been the case for years. Alandi Municipal Council chief officer Madhav Khandekar said, "We have advised residents not to use river water for drinking — for their safety.
They only used it for domestic purposes for the last few years."
By the time the water flows into Alandi, it turns dark with pollutants and thick, toxic foam forming over the top, ranging for a kilometre or more. Fish die in droves due to lack of oxygen. At several spots, hyacinth flourishes, leading to severe mosquito breeding concerns.
Pollution further breeds worries of waterborne infections, respiratory issues, skin irritations, gastrointestinal distress and even long-term health concerns like cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Lawyer-activist Vilas Kate from Alandi pointed out, "Not a single agency has carried out a health survey of the affected population. A comprehensive ground survey is needed to understand health issues in villages on the riverbanks."
A senior doctor from the Alandi Rural Health Hospital said, "Even if people don't drink this river water, regular use for domestic purposes poses a big risk to health. We see many patients affected by river pollution.
It is an alarming situation in Alandi."
Kate added, "Nobody cares about the Indrayani. All promises made in all these years were hollow. We are surprised by the audacity of the authorities."
President of Indrayani Seva Foundation, Vitthal Shinde told TOI, "Several industries, as well as housing societies, discharge sewage and effluents directly into the river. Dead fish float up at least twice or thrice a year and that has been the case for the last eight years.
Detergent found in the river is also a big reason for fish dying. There are environmental norms that industries and residential units must comply with, but most of them don't have high capacity or functional sewage treatments plants.
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"In the absence of regular checks by competent authorities, pollution in the river will only increase year on year," Shinde added.
A sacred river for lakhs of devotees
The Indrayani river has a special place in the hearts of the warkari community, many of whom visit Dehu and Alandi regularly on its banks for a darshan at the temples of Sant Tukaram Maharaj and Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, respectively.
As per tradition, devotees also take a 'holy dip' in the same river before visiting these temples.
"No matter what the pollution level in the river is, we take a holy dip before going to the temple. This is our tradition. We will follow it even if the water is unhealthy," said Sandesh Deshmukh from Beed district.
Many like him are upset with state govt for paying no heed to their religious sentiments. Pandurang Kale, another warkari from Marathwada region, said, "In Maharashtra, warkaris take a holy dip only in two rivers — the Indrayani and the Chandrabhaga (Bhima) in Pandharpur.
Govt should have maintained the sanctity of these rivers."
NGT seeks compensation from Dehu Nagar Panchayat
NGT's principal bench in New Delhi had taken suo motu cognizance of a TOI report published on March 15, 2024. In response, the bench issued notices to MPCB, CPCB, the Central Institute of Fisheries Education in Mumbai, and the Pune district collector, seeking their replies on the matter. A subsequent inspection revealed that the STP operated by Dehu Nagar Panchayat was non-functional.
During a hearing at the NGT's Western Zonal Bench in Pune on Nov 25, 2024, the tribunal directed MPCB to assess and explain, the quantum of environmental damage compensation, to be levied on the Dehu Nagar Panchayat.
The bench also instructed the panchayat to submit a timeline for setting up functional STPs and for the rejuvenation of Ghat nullah and Kapur nullah, both identified as the main sources of pollution.
Action plan as suggested by MPCB
- Irrigation department should maintain minimum natural flow in the Indrayani river
- Local bodies/irrigation department should remove/sedimentation at bunds
- STPs of PCMC need upgradation to achieve BOD of 10 mg/1 as per prescribed standards
- Local bodies must make budgetary provisions for STPs on Indrayani (circular on July 16, 2016)
- Various departments of local bodies must coordinate to plan water supply, sewerage network and STPs while granting building permissions
- Gram and Nagar panchayats should confirm at least provision of septic tank before passing plans of standalone houses
- Local bodies, agencies and NGOs must raise awareness on issue
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