Gangajal Poem by Asit Kumar Sanyal

Ganga, the trans-boundary river
Rises in western Himalayas
And empties in Bay of Bengal
During its 2525 km long journey
Ganga delivers precious Gangajal
mixed with mountain herbs
It's the third largest river of the world
After Amazon and Congo by discharge
And most sacred river of Hindus
It's the lifeline of millions of Indians.

Hindus consider the Gangajal
As pure and purifying
But the reality is something else
If you try to find out … you will see
Ganga is totally polluted now
It receives untreated discharge of sewers,
Urban and industrial wastes
from all the cities and towns
Situated at its both banks
Also receives burnt and unburnt dead bodies
Carcasses and flowers from devotees.

Lakhs of people take bath everyday
Wash dirty clothes
Passes stools along riverside
Immerse idols and wallow cattle
Now Gangajal is like poison
And the carrier of waterborne diseases
The Ganga river dolphins about to finish
Mugger crocodiles, gharials not seen
Many species of fishes vanished
Hilsa also does not enter in Ganga these days.

‘Ganga cleaning' is made for eye wash
It's only for political mileage
And consuming tax payers' money
'Namami Gange programme' launched
This 2000 crore project will clean Gangajal
Across the five basin states
If it is successful then people will get
Modernised ghats, redeveloped crematoriums,
developed sewage infrastucture, interceptors
medicinal plants besides pure Gangajal.