Reviving Adi Ganga

Plans to revive the dying Adi Ganga — the original channel of River Ganga passing through the city of Kolkata has allotted around Rs.650 crore to revive the ancient river and combat pollution under National Mission for Clean Ganga.

• Adi Ganga was chosen from India as a part of a project to address pollution in South Asian Rivers.

Where Adi Ganga lies?

• The Adi Ganga is a palaeodistributary of the Bhagirathi, which was described as an important navigational channel in the mediaeval Bengali literature (Mangalk Vyas).
• Its degenerated course is still traceable for 36 km downstream of Calcutta up to Surjyapurin the South 24-Parganas district, West Bengal.
• Beyond Surjyapur, at least eight different possibilities of its path and/or outfall positions (at Diamond Harbour, Kulpi, Gangasagar, Saptamukhi estuary and Hariyabhanga estuary) have been suggested by different authors.
• After critical evaluation of each of them, it can be fairly ascertained on the basis of the Mangalk vyas, satellite images and aerial photos that the Adi Ganga continued for another 40 km up to the Gajmuri-Dighirpara region.

Historical significance:

• Adi Ganga was the river’s main channel till the 17th century.
• Around 1750, a canal was dug to connect the main course of the river with the lower part of River Saraswati adjacent to Howrah.
• The resultant Hooghly became the main river stretch and Adi Ganga turned into a secondary tributary. 

Why it needs conservation?

• Adi Ganga continued to thrive till the 1970s and since then, its water quality gradually deteriorated until it turned into a sewer and got rapidly encroached, even fully filled up just beyond the boundary of the city’s municipal corporation.
• The river is now practically dead and has turned into a sewer with a load of faecal bacteria crossing 17 million in 100 millilitres of river water, according to the state pollution control board data.

About the mission:

• The panellists at an international water conference organised in Sylhet decided to explore the possibility of a pan-south Asian project to address the pollution of one key river each in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China and Malaysia. Adi Ganga was selected from India.
• The West Bengal government accepted in a report filed in the Calcutta High Court that 7,851 illegal structures with about 40,000 residents, 90 temples, 69 godowns, 12 cattle sheds and others existed in the 15.5 km stretch of the river passing through Kolkata and its southern fringes.
• Subsequently, the Calcutta High Court directed the removal of all encroachments within a month. But another report, close to two decades after the first order, showed that the encroachments still existed.