The Dark Side of Durga Puja: Violence and Pollution

[Guest guest]

Even the holiest holidays can be marred by human foolishness. Here are

two stories that sadly must counterbalance my previous post:

 

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1. ONE KILLED, 12 INJURED IN CLASHES OVER DURGA PUJA

 

SANT KABIRNAGAR, India (Oct 24, 2004): One person was killed and 12

others, including seven policemen, were injured, several shops set

afire and some vehicles damaged in separate clashes in Uttar Pradesh

on Sunday following disputes over immersion of idols of Goddess Durga.

 

Police opened fire in the air when a mob tried to set ablaze a police

station here in the wake of rumours that some policemen were trying to

immerse the idols early this morning, IGP Rameshwar Dayal said.

 

One person was killed and three were injured in the violence, he said

adding the District Magistrate and seven policemen, including an SP,

were injured.

 

The unruly mob also torched some police jeeps, motor-cycles, a truck

and a hut adjacent to the police station. Besides, additional police,

PAC and Rapid Action Force had been deployed in the area to maintain

peace, the IGP said.

 

Fifty-two people were arrested and the Station House Officer was

suspended in connection with violence. Three labourers working in a

carpet factory were stabbed and several shops and vehicles torched in

a fresh outbreak of violence in Bhadohi district.

 

The mob disrupted movement of trains for over three hours, police said

adding 10 people were arrested in connection with violence.

Twenty-four were injured in clashes during immersion of the idols in

the district yesterday.

 

Source: The Times of India

URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/897605.cms

 

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2. IMMERSION OF DURGA IDOLS INCREASING POLLUTION, ACTIVISTS SAY

 

Patna, INDIA (Oct 24, 2004): Green activists in Bihar say immersion of

hundreds of idols by Hindu devotees over the weekend has increased

pollution levels in the Ganges river, threatening the existence of

water organisms including the dolphin.

 

Green activist Arun Kumar Singh, who runs Green Life here, said the

idols made nowadays contain large amounts of non bio-degradable

material instead of clay that was used earlier.

 

The state capital saw over 1,000 idols being immersed along with the

decorative materials after the popular five-day Durga Puja festival

that ended Saturday.

 

"The Ganges river is considered sacred by the Hindus but we are

damaging and polluting it by immersing idols without caring or knowing

that immersing idols is not good for the river," Singh said.

 

The synthetic paints applied on idols, detergents, mica, synthetic

flowers, plaster of paris and other items increases the pollution of

the Ganges river, which is known to be one of the most polluted in India.

 

Environmentalist R.N. Trivedi said the paints and synthetic colours

used for making idols were non-biodegradable and hazardous. They

contain toxic chemicals like cadmium, carbonic compounds, strontium

and phosphorous.

 

"They pose a danger to the lives of water organisms like fish and the

dolphin, an endangered species," Trivedi said.

 

Well known environmental expert R.K. Sinha, known for his work in

saving the dolphins, said synthetic materials are dangerous to the

river ecology.

 

He said at least five kg of synthetic paints are used in making and

decorating one idol. Going by the latest trend to make idols more

attractive, about 5,000 to 10,000 kg of paint goes into the Ganges

river every year after the Durga Puja.

 

In areas outside Patna, people immersed idols in the Ganges river in

Bhagalpur, Munger and other places in the state.

 

Environmentalists say they favour a campaign to make the people more

aware of the dangers of polluting the river, alternative sites for

immersing idols and using natural colours and materials for making idols.

 

"The state government should provide an alternative site for the

purpose. The immersion of idols is an age old ritual that cannot be

banned but alternative arrangements would save the river," Sinha said.

 

However, the district magistrate of Patna, Gautam Goswami, who was

selected among the Heroes of Asia by Time magazine, said the Ganges

river should be saved from pollution but said nothing could be done

unless steps are taken by the government.

 

Last month a group of environmental activists even staged a mock

funeral at the river to protest the state government's apathy towards

taking corrective measures.

 

Noted environmentalist Medha Patkar during her visit to this city this

year had urged Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to initiate measures to

save the Ganges from getting further polluted.

 

Raw sewage, rotting carcasses, industrial effluent, fertilisers and

pesticides flow into the river for much of its 2,500 km stretch from

the Himalayan foothills to the Bay of Bengal.

 

The river is highly polluted by the time it reaches Patna, some 1,700

km downstream from its source.

 

Experts say pollution is to blame for a host of diseases - hepatitis,

amoebic dysentery, typhoid, cholera and cancer - among the roughly 400

million people who live in the vast Gangetic basin.

 

According to a government report, a Ganga Action Plan that was

launched with great fanfare and at huge expense in the mid-1980s has

met only 39 percent of its primary target for sewage treatment.

 

The report said less than half of the grossly polluting industrial

units lining the river had installed effluent treatment plants, but

nearly 20 percent of them did not function properly.

 

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

URL: http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/?action=fullnews&id=38638