As the Rs 1,500 cr Central project to revive the ambitious Namami Gange programme takes off today can we hope to see any such programme for reviving the dying Tawi which is the life line of Jammu region. Tawi has turned into a garbage dumping Nallah with so many outlets discharging untreated sewage from the cities all along its banks. Today it has lost its place as a river of some eminence and reverence for all its purposes which used to be in yesteryears. Jammu has a limited network of irrigation canals, but the depletion of its rivers is causing the most distant canals to dry up every summer, posing a threat to agriculture. An acute shortage of drinking water in the region has led to demonstrations by protesters during the past few summers. The State Government now is setting up several water treatment plants on rivers in the area to meet demand for drinking water and has started an awareness campaign. It is also encouraging the formation of village sanitation committees to revive traditional ponds and other water bodies to try to restore groundwater levels. Today the depleting ground water level is posing a big problem for agriculture sector. Even as the High Court has taken suo moto cognisance of the depleting Tawi due to the surplus dumping of household and municipal wastes and directed the administration to take strict action against those who violated the Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act-2010, but still nothing could be substantiated. According to the J and K Water Resources and Management Act, 2010, whoever disposes of house sewage or other household waste into any water source is liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000, or with both. See the amount of domestic waste is washed into it along with polythene which questions the efficacy of the Water Resource Management Act.
