Sankat Mochan Foundation

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Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) is a non-governmental organization devoted to cleaning the pollution of the Ganges and protecting the Ganges river in India. The environmental mission is related to the religious mission of Sankat Mochan Temple and Late Veer Bhadra Mishra was manager of both organizations. [1] [2] Mishra was awarded the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) the "Global 500 Roll of Honour" in 1992, [3] The foundation has been working with Australia-based environmental group, Oz Greene, under a program called "Swatcha Ganga Abhiyan" for over 38 years. It celebrated its silver jubilee on 3–4 November 2007, with two-day event which concluded at the Tulsi Ghat, on the Ganges. [4]

Contents

History

Sankat Mochan Foundation was founded in 1982 as a non-profit, non-political organization under the "Societies Act" of the Government of India by Pandit Mishra. [5] The vision of Sankat Mochan Foundation is to

  1. Restore the Ganges by alleviating its fast deteriorating environmental conditions
  2. Promote education and health care programs for the less privileged
  3. Maintain and encourage the age-old cultural traditions of Varanasi, in tune with its current environmental needs

SMF runs the Swatcha Ganga (Clean Ganges) program, and so SMF is sometimes referred to as "Swatcha Ganga".

Historically, Sankat Mochan Foundation has managed support from both the Indian government and private foreign donors. [6]

Ganga Action Plan: Failures

The Ganga Action Plan launched in 1986 by the Government of India has not achieved any success despite expenditure of over five billion rupees. The government claims that the schemes under the Ganga Action Plan have been successful, but actual measurements and scientific data tell a different story. The failure of the GAP is evident but corrective action is lacking.

The ineffectiveness of the current Ganga Action Plan could be found based on the results observed in the following table: [7]

Location / ParametersBiochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/l)Faecal Coliform Count / 100ml
At beginning of the Varanasi City ... Near Assi/Tulsi ghat3–8 mg/l20,000 - 100,000 per 100ml
Downstream of the Varanasi City ... Varuna confluence with the Ganges20–50 mg/l1,000,000-2,000,000 per 100ml
Permissible limits for bathingLess than 3 mg/lLess than 500 per 100ml

Note: The higher the Biochemical Oxygen Demand, the higher the pollution (conversely there is more dissolved oxygen needed to make the water safe).

Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond Systems

SMF is implementing a system called "Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond Systems (AIWPS)". Each AIWPS facility designs and incorporates a series of low-cost ponds or earthwork reactors. [8] A typical AIWPS facility consists of a minimum of four ponds in series. These systems would store sewage for 45 days, using bacteria and algae to eliminate waste and purify the water.

SMF's evaluations show AIWPS to be lower cost, more energy-efficient, more climate-appropriate, and more effective at treating sewage than other proposals submitted. Sankat Mochan Foundation, working alongside Oswald Green LLC now Oswald Green Technologies, Inc., [9] had proposed this system for treating the sewage water that is being let in to the Ganges River near Varanasi. This solution has been supported by Varanasi Nagar Nigam (Varanasi Local Government Body, Municipal Corporation) but central and state government have not approved the budget.

Recently NGT directed NMCG to monitor the progress of implementation of action plan of Namami Gange project

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Ganges is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through India and Bangladesh. The 2,525 km (1,569 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It flows south and east through the Gangetic plain of North India, where it receives the right-bank tributary, the Yamuna which also rises in the western Indian Himalayas, and several left-bank tributaries from Nepal that account for the bulk of its flow. In West Bengal state, India, a feeder canal taking off from its right bank diverts 50% of its flow southwards, artificially connecting it to the Hooghly river. The Ganges continues into Bangladesh, its name changing to the Padma. It is then joined by the Jamuna, the lower stream of the Brahmaputra, and eventually the Meghna, forming the major estuary of the Ganges Delta, and emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna system is the third largest river on earth by discharge.

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Yamuna River in India

The Yamuna, also spelt Jamuna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of 6,387 metres (20,955 ft) on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Lower Himalaya in Uttarakhand, it travels a total length of 1,376 kilometres (855 mi) and has a drainage system of 366,223 square kilometres (141,399 sq mi), 40.2% of the entire Ganges Basin. It merges with the Ganges at Triveni Sangam, Allahabad, which is a site of the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival held every 12 years.

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Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple Hindu temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple is a Hindu temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India and is dedicated to the Hindu God Hanuman. The temple was established by famous Hindu preacher and poet saint Sri Goswami Tulsidas in the early 16th century and is situated on the banks of the Assi river. The deity was named "Sankat Mochan" meaning the "reliever from troubles".

Veer Bhadra Mishra was the founding president of the Sankat Mochan Foundation.

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Ghats in Varanasi Riverfront steps leading to the banks of the River Ganges

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Tulsi Ghat

Tulsi Ghat is one of the ghats in Varanasi. It is named for Tulsidas who lived there while he wrote the Ramcharitmanas. Earlier, Tulsi Ghat was known as Lolark Ghat. It was in the year 1941 that Tulsi Ghat was made pucca (cemented) by the famous industrialist, Baldeo Das Birla.

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Ravindra Kumar Sinha (biologist)

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References

  1. "Jai Ganga Maiyya..." The Times of India . 26 May 2009. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  2. "Holy War for "My Mother"". TIME . 16 August 1999. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000.
  3. "Adult Award Winner in 1992: Veer Bhadra Mishra". Global 500 Roll of Honour website.
  4. "'Centre should take steps to clean Ganga river'". Indian Express. 5 November 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "SMF Milestones". sankatmochanfoundationonline.org. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008.
  7. "Маска защитная медицинская купить - маски марлевые медицинские купить Киев".
  8. "advanced integrated wastewater pond systems, Tuba Ertas, Victor Miguel Ponce". ponce.sdsu.edu.
  9. "Welcome to Oswald Green Technologies, Inc. - Oswald Green Technologies, Inc". oswaldgreentech.com.