Environmentalists' fresh video 'reveals' Sabarmati turns into gutter for 120 km

By A Representative
A fresh video taken by a group of environmental activists led by Rohit Prajapati of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti has suggested that Sabarmati river, which passes through Ahmedabad, turns into a dead river for the 120 kilometres stretch after it leaves Ahmedabad city to “meet” the Arabian Sea.

Pointing out that the “river” comprises of just industrial effluent and sewage, Prajapati said in a WhatsApp alert that the video, taken on June 29, 2020, at 2:16 pm, from the river’s Vishala Bridge, next to Gyaspur village, reveals Sabarmati’s “disastrous condition” in and around Ahmedabad district in the downstream.
According to Prajapati, even before it leaves the city’s much acclaimed Sabarmati riverfront project, “The river has become a pool of polluted stagnant water”, and after it leaves the city, it is “reduced to a channel carrying effluents from industries from Naroda, Odhav, Vatva, Narol, and sewage from Ahmedabad city.”
He says, “The drought like condition of the Sabarmati river has been intensified by the riverfront project, resulting in poor groundwater recharge and increased dependency on the already ailing Narmada river”, insisting, the authorities should not allow “any discharge of even so-called treated effluent and sewerage into the river.”

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