hi INDiA Copyright 2022-2050
One’s treatment of a river depends upon one’s sentiments for it. Since the Ganga was considered the holiest of all rivers, for decades people regarded it as a self-purifying body of water that would never get polluted no matter what they did. The Brahmaputra traverses different legends, nations and religious beliefs. How does the people’s equation with the river change with the change in the national boundaries?
That is an interesting question. Well, the Brahmaputra does not carry the same burden of holiness that the Ganga does, and it is also a lot less polluted, but the pollution of the Ganga is not really because of sentiments but in spite of them.
Although the Ganga is considered holy, entire towns and villages mainly in Uttar Pradesh discharge untreated residential waste into it. The waste from lakhs of drains is discharged into the river. Additionally, industries, even ones that have effluent treatment plants, do not run those plants. When it comes to saving on electricity bills, all the holiness of the river is forgotten.
Naturally, the water gets dirty. The Brahmaputra is less polluted only because there is a smaller population along its banks, and fewer industries, otherwise the same problems and attitudes exist. Holiness, unholiness…