Narmada in Narsinghpur A Ray of Hope in an Otherwise Eroding Stream of Life

Narsinghpur is an agrarian district, known for having the most fertile soil all over Asia

Srajan Girdonia . Narsinghpur mobile#8178502143 @SrajanGridonia

Narsinghpur is a district situated in central Madhya Pradesh between two mountain ranges namely, Vindhyachal in the north and Satpura in the south. Essentially, these mountain ranges divide ‘north India’ from ‘south India’. River Narmada flows in the northern part of the district from east to west. This river is the lifeline of Narsinghpur!

Narsinghpur is an agrarian district, known for having the most fertile soil all over Asia. Although, majority of district’s terrain is suited for agriculture, the ‘Narmada Kachhar’ region is especially fertile and it’s black soil is famed world over. Sugarcane is the primary commercial crop, but it’s the pulses that are of the absolute highest quality, known for their unique earthy flavor.

One look at the agriculture system of this place makes it clear why Narmada is so important here. That’s why people often say, ‘Everything here is given by Narmada, and shall go back to her!’ Narsinghpur has over a hundred ghats of Narmada and significant proportion of population lives near it, majority of homes receive their daily water from this very river. Here, it really does seem like everything belongs to Narmada.

Even though it’s is the lifeline, it hasn’t escaped the brunt of pollution and personal greed. Over the years, there has been a steady decline in the river’s footprint and water quality. In the district itself, illegal mining seems to be biggest cause of deterioration. Governments have launched various project to save the holy river however, much of them have proved fruitless due to poor planning, execution and a general lack of willpower.

Last six-seven years have seen large-scale sand mining along the rivers in Madhya Pradesh. These present more unsettling questions on sustainable development. A huge number of machines extract as much sand as possible from the Narmada before the monsoon ban on mining. The scale has increased tremendously, with illegal mining dwarfing the legal ones.

These are the outcomes of a new policy brought forth in 2015 by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, which identified more sand mining areas; sand became the first mineral to be e-auctioned.

At least 586 approved mines spread over 4,537 hectares in 33 districts were operational in 2015. The administration is silence on illegal mining; staff members in the mining department are unequipped to deal with the large-scale of operations. The sand mafia has been aggressive on police constables, journalists and administrative officers. Several cases have been filed by non-profit Narmada Bachao Andolan and others, and the National Green Tribunal has banned mechanized sand mining in the Narmada.

Other than mining, large scale religious activities, domestic effluent discharges, industrial activities, restaurants, and lodges on the river banks also release sewage to the river through small drains. Major towns/cities such as Dindori, Mandala, and Narsinghpur along the river lack sewage treatment plants, making the river more vulnerable to sewage pollution.

According to a research published in ‘Water Science’ journal in 2018. Samples taken from ghats like Barmaan, which is the most famous ghat and witness thousands of pilgrims on a weekly basis had very poor water quality due to anthropogenic activities like human intervention and religious happenings.

Over the last year however, picture seems to have changed somewhat. The coronavirus pandemic forced people to stop gathering en masse, resulting in a complete stoppage of human intervention, religious activities as well as a partial stoppage on mining. Along with this, various small villages have come together to stop illegal mining in their villages, resulting in a rapid restoration of the environment around Narmada. The situation on some of the bigger ghats hasn’t changed drastically but the water around some of the smaller ghats have once again turned pristine. Locals say, they are seeing a rejuvenation of flora and fauna in and around the holy river.

Has Narmada been saved? Of course, not! But a step in the right direction has been taken. It’s even more promising to see ordinary people coming to the realization that it’s their duty as well to keep their life line alive and flowing. Lastly, this World Environment Day the governments, both local and state need to take a long hard look at their policies and actions (which there are very few) and come up with a concrete plan to save this vital stream of life called Narmada.

After all, ‘Everything is given by Narmada, and shall go back to her!’