`Kerala has shown the way in river rejuvenation'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lauding the efforts taken by the state government towards rejuvenating its depleting rivers,

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

said the entire country should emulate Kerala for conservation of waterbodies
For the first time in the country , a consensus is being formed cutting across political spectrums among various states for formulation of a long-term national policy for revival of depleting rivers, said Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who is spearheading a nation-wide campaign: `Rally for rivers'.

“With 96% of the rivers in the country being forest-fed, the challenge is to hold the average precipitation of 45 days a year for the whole 365 days of the year. Kerala has proved that revival of rivers is practical by rejuvenating a couple of them recently ,“ Sadhguru said at the public meeting organised as part of the campaign here in the state capital on Tuesday .

Though people have caused immense damage to rivers, they still can be revived through implementable policies, Sadhguru said. “A river is not just source of water, but, life in itself. Digging into river beds over the last 25 years has already led to extinction of 15% to 20% of more than 1,000 freshwater fish species,“ he said adding that the statistics were very scary .

Sadhguru also warned that the next three to five years will witness the soil in many states turning into mere sand, as the organ ic content in the soil was now a low 0.05% against the minimum requirement of 2 percent.

Lauding the efforts taken by the state government in rejuvenating its depleting rivers, Sadhguru said the entire country should emulate Kerala for conservation of waterbodies and greenery and to get the tag `God's own country'. “We must understand if insects, worms, fish, birds and animals start disappearing, then we (human beings) are next in line,“ he said.

Sadhguru also met with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who assured his full support to the campaign, aimed at rejuvenating India's fast-depleting rivers.

Inaugurating the public meeting, water resources minister

Mathew T Thomas

said the government, as promised by the chief minister, was contemplating a legislation to punish those polluting water bodies. “The government is giving top priority for protection of rivers rather than the interests of owners of properties or houses on river banks,“ he said.

Terming Haritha Keralam Mission as a big step towards conservation of rivers and other waterbodies, the minister said the state gave a big message for the whole country through the rejuvenation of Varattar River.“This was made possible by the participation of people irrespective of their political affiliation. People should take up rejuvenation of more rivers, and the government will provide maximum support,“ he said.

The public meeting was attended by tourism minister Kadakampalli Surendran, O Rajagopal MLA, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan and K Jayakumar, vice chancellor, Malayalam University .

Earlier, the Kerala leg of the campaign was flagged off at Manaveeyam Veedi by Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, a member of erstwhile Travancore royal family . Young painters and folk performers added colour to the flaggingoff ceremony .