Ahead of the World Environment Day on June 5, river activists in Agra and Mathura, have again voiced their concern over the dry and polluted Yamuna, the lifeline of the entire Braj Mandal.

They have, in letters and memorandums demanded cleaning of the river bed to rid the river of toxins, industrial effluents and other pollutants.

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Agra’s National Chamber of Industries and Commerce in a petition to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has demanded thorough dredging of the river bed from Vrindavan to Agra’s Bateshwar, the holy town with 108 Shiva temples in a row along the bend of the river.

Chamber president Manish Agarwal said the deplorable condition of the river Yamuna can only be set right if urgent measures are taken to desist the river before the monsoon rains.

Sita Ram Agarwal, a functionary of the Chamber and industrialist said, tourism is dependent on the river Yamuna, as all major monuments are sited along its banks.

River Connect Campaign member Devashish Bhattacharya said “for the past seven years we have been persuading the state and the union governments to initiate appropriate measures to save Yamuna from dying. Yamuna needs cleaning, it needs uninterrupted flow of water to dilute the pollutants and sustain aqua life. The state government is dragging its feet on the Yamuna Barrage project, downstream of the Taj Mahal. Despite promises, no concrete action has been taken thus far”.

River campaigners Rahul Raj, Deepak Rajput, Ranjan Sharma and others said accused the nine MLAs, three MPs of the BJP from Agra, for their callous apathy.

Pandit Jugal Kishor said: “Nitin Gadkari has promised in 2015 that steamers would ferry tourists from Delhi to Agra, but now he has completely forgotten the issue.”

River Yamuna constitutes a critical component of the Agra environment whose good health was vital for the maintenance of historical buildings that attracted millions of tourists round the year.

“The high level of dust in the ambient air was hurting the Taj Mahal and other monuments. The dry and polluted Yamuna had become a breeding ground for harmful bacteria’s and mosquitoes that defaced the white marble,” said Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society.

In Mathura, efforts are being made by the NGO, Yamuna Mission, to green the river banks, using the drain water after treatment.

“The whole stretch from Kans Kila to Masani Nala and beyond towards Vrindavan had been systematically greened with dense foliage,” said Pradip Bansal of the Yamuna Mission.

In Vrindavan, several stretches had been greened along the river.

Jagan Nath Poddar, convener of the Friends of Vrindavan said, “we are right now busy cleaning up the sprawling Mansarovar Lake. As the rains start, we will start planting saplings. The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced the pressure on the holy town and the river, due to the lockdown. We hope the nature will now breathe free”.