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Raman Kant’s NEER Foundation has involved thousands of locals from several districts to work on rejuvenating Hindon river, a tributary of Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh

During the four-hour long journey from Saharanpur to Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, travelers are accompanied by the Hindon river, a tributary of the Yamuna. A year back however, the river’s company wasn’t a very pleasing one, as Hindon, like several rivers of the country, was plagued by pollution. From plastics to hazardous chemicals, Hindon had become the dumping ground for industries and individuals, who would indiscriminately dispose of waste in the river. The river, a prominent part of UP’s industrial belt flows through seven districts and 316 industries are situated on its banks. The unhindered flow of waste into Hindon had resulted in the river being heavily polluted, making its water laden with chemical and hazardous waste. Hindon would have joined the list of India’s endangered rivers and soon would have died a painful death.

But a group of individuals, led by river enthusiast and environmentalist Raman Kant have worked tirelessly since 2007 to rejuvenate the river and grant it a new lease of life. Today, large portions of the river are clean of not only waste, but the disposal of effluents from a large number of industries has also come down after Mr Kant’s team worked towards ensure closure of many polluting industries.

It all started back in 2007, when pollution of Hindon was at its peak. On approaching the government on the issue, I was told that the government did not even have a map of the river. I created the river map, pointing out spots where sewage drains disposed waste into the river and submitted it to the state government, which continues to be used till date.  I started an organisation called NEER Foundation and our priority was to rejuvenate the Hindon river, said Raman Kant.

Hindon’s length of 400 kilometres ensured that sporadic cleaning activities would do no good and so, Mr Kant made no attempt to arrange cleanliness drives. Instead, he put in his efforts to go from district to district in the areas through which Hindon flowed and talked to people, discussing how the river’s lasting pollution had an adverse effect on them. Several district committees were formed and as people enrolled in them, cleaning activities such as removal of waste from the river were started.