Will River Regulation Zone lifting kill Ulhas river?

From ancient times rivers have been a source of pure drinking water and the civilizations flourished around these water bodies. However, with the state government scrapping away the River Regulation Zone (RRZ) policy, it seems these rivers will soon wither away. This has got the environmentalists up in arms who think that it will slowly lead to the demise of Ulhas and other rivers in Thane and the state.

There are 800 industries in the Ambernath-Badlapur, Kalyan-Dombivli industrial belt which have been a source of polluting Ulhas river in the past few years. With these industries discharging chemical effluents in the river, Ulhas is slowly becoming a nullah.

Reacting to this water activist Janak Daftary says,"scraping away of this policy will destroy the river all the more. Vikas ke naam pe vinash karne ke din aaye haen (destruction is happening in the name of development). Do not know if this is acchhe din ya bure din." He adds,"this will slowly lead to the demise of the river."

NGOs like Vanshakti which are already fighting a case against the state in the high court for the protection of rivers in the state says this is the most absurd decision. "Given the level of pollution in the MMRDA region and condition of rivers like Ulhas and Mithi, this decision should not have been taken," says Ashwin Aghor of Vanshakti.

The NGO feels that there should be development but not at the cost of environment. "There are barren lands in Solapur, Marathwada where industries can be set up and an excellent road network can bring the produce to Mumbai. Why destroy water resources?" questions he.

The environmentatlists fear that this deregulation of the RRZ will soon lead to water shortage. "Even if they put checks and balances, what if there is no implementation of it? This will destroy rivers and lead to drinking water shortage as happening in California," says he.

Looking at the confidence of the state to ensure proper implementation of checks and balances on industries, D Stalin, director of Vanshakti challenges the ministers to come and drink the water. "if ministers and leaders feel they are not destroying the river than i invite them with their families to come to these rivers and drink the water purified by the chemical effluent treatment plant. Lets have a Swachh Jal Abhiyaan like the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan," says he.

What is the RRZ policy?

According to the River Regulation Zone policy no industries depending upon their categories can be set up in the range of 2km meters to 5km meters of the high floor level (HFL) of the river