Palampur: NGO rids Neugal river, forests of 200-kg garbage

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 5

Volunteers of NGO ‘Hilldari’ started a cleanliness campaign and collected 200 kg of garbage littered by tourists and locals in Neugal river and adjoining forest on the World Environment Day today

Over 40 members of the NGO, comprising men, women and children, are taking part in the campaign during which they will clean the area strewn with plastic wrappers and empty bottles.

The volunteers got no support from the authorities like the municipal corporation, SDM, Forest and IPH Departments, which are the main custodians of rivers and forests.

Due to official apathy, the Neugal — originating from the Dhauladhars in Kangra, it is one of the major tributaries of the Beas — has become polluted. One can see garbage, animal carcasses and effluents floating on the surface of the river.

Palampur MC Mayor Gopal Nag said in the absence of a garbage segregation facility in adjoining panchayats, garbage was being dumped into the river by locals and tourists. He said it was mostly the tourists who leave behind a trail of garbage in the absence of any check by the authorities.

Over 100 drinking water supply schemes of Palampur, Dheera and Jaisinghpur subdivisions are dependent on the Neugal. In the past five years, things have gone from bad to worse as tonnes of plastic waste has found its way into the river.

Urging the local panchyats to check the littering in forests and rivers, local MLA Ashish Butail said, “All of us must educate the tourists and local people to keep Palampur and its adjoining areas clean and green.” He assured the people that he would ask the Forest Department to identify spots along the Neugal for installation of barricades to check the entry of the tourists into the river.

The National Green Tribunal has also asked the authorities to take measures to stop dumping of garbage into the river.