Vyas | October, 2002

"O, India, thy plight makes me weep. For thy tale is the most distressing and exemplary of tales. I burn in sorrow and find no rest in any manner. Drown, O, Drown me, O wide Ganga so that I may get peace."       - Dr. Mohammad Iqbal

	Sangam: Where Yamuna meets with Ganga at Allahabad

The confluence of two rivers has always evoked a sense of journey's fulfillment. When Yamuna meets the Ganga at Allahabad, the confluence becomes the 'king of place of pilgrimage' or 'Tirtharaj' as it is popularly known in India. Although the confluence of the concerns of the campaigners for River Thames in London and those of the Ganga in India may be of a different order, it has enough potential to transform two real rivers.

The year 2002 certainly marks a watershed in the life of the Campaign for a Clean Ganga when it has succeeded in securing active collaboration of clean up campaigners of the River Thames. Each campaign is a dream's progression towards becoming more and more real.

The dream of Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra who in 1982 banded together with a group of international citizens to found the Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) at Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi has with fierce determination actualized itself in a Campaign for Clean Ganga. The achievements of two decades of the Campaign are like Ghats on the banks of the river of concerted human efforts.

• 1985 - The Indian government launched the Ganga Action Plan whose phase I includes construction of three sewage pants and one electric crematorium in Varanasi.
  
  
• 1992 - The campaign organized international conference on "Pollution Control in River cities of India: A case study of Ganga in Varanasi" in which experts from the United States, Sweden and India participated.
  
  
• 1993 - Swatcha Ganga Research Laboratory is established with support from Swedish environmentalists. Laboratory data establish the ineffectiveness of the Ganga Action Plan in Varanasi.
  
  
• 1996 - The campaign proposes interceptor sewers along the Ganga and Varuna rivers and a non-electrical wastewater collection and treatment system (AIWPS) for Varanasi.
  
  
• 1997 - The Campaign's AIWPS study prepared jointly with the University of California was adopted by Varanasi City Corporation, which submits the proposal to the Indian Government.
  
  
• 1998 - Swatcha Ganga Environmental Education Centre is established at Tulsi Ghat in collaboration with Australian environmentalists.
  
  
• 1999 - Continuing efforts directed toward local and national governments to promote the advantages of appropriate and sustainable sewage treatment.
  
  
• 2000 - Extension of environmental education programme and launching of clean drinking water project in villages near Varanasi in cooperation with Australia.
  
  
• 2001 - Launch of three year public awareness project with Swedish humanitarian aid, to expose the true causes of Ganga pollution and initiation of specific measures to clean up non - point pollution along the Varanasi stretch.
  
  
• 2002 - One of the classes of the stakeholders in the cause of clean Ganga - the riverside Hindu priests convene at Campaign head quarters to assist in public awareness programme.