Illegal stone quarrying near Almatti can have disastrous consequences, fear greens. Stone quarrying goes on unhindered on the banks of River Krishna, even as locals allege that officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) are turning a blind eye to the illegality.

The national river policy stipulates that stone quarrying should not be conducted on the banks of any river. It is feared that the quarrying may cause damage to the nearby bridges on the Parvati Katta road (a road bridge and the railway bridge) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The dawn to dusk stone quarrying in and around the Krishna river basin has invited the wrath of environmentalists.

Steps for resolution of issues raised by him to be discussed

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has deputed a senior official from his office to meet Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand to discuss further measures that could be taken for an early resolution of issues raised by the Ganga Seva Abhiyanam. The Swami is on a hunger strike to save the Ganga. In a statement issued here on Friday, the Prime Minister's Office said the government is committed to improving the ecological health of the river, to make sure that there is continuous and pollution-free flow of water.

Ignoring the crucial linkages of a river’s upstream, midstream, and downstream flows can endanger not just the river, but human communities and ecology sustained by it. A disregard of ‘environmental flows,’ by construction of dams, has already harmed many rivers in the Western Ghats, giving rise to political as well as environmental issues.

Arsenic contamination of ground water from Yamuna floodplains in Delhi is several times the permissible limit and the prime culprit for this poisoning is fly ash and other residue from Delhi’s thermal power plants, a study by the Department of Geology at Delhi University (DU) has found. “Samples were collected from the Yamuna floodplains, one of the most important ground water recharging sources in the city, to study the level of arsenic content in it.

Uttar Pradesh PWD and Irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav has issued directives to clear the Yamuna floodplain land in Gautam Budh Nagar. The vast tract of land is owned by the state’s Irrigation department and has allegedly been gobbled up by land sharks. Several farm houses have come up in the ecologically-sensitive Yamuna catchment area.