Journal of Water Resource Engineering and Pollution Studies ISSN: 3107-8419 (Online)

Authors: Dr. Jyotsna Lal

Abstract: Central Pollution Control Board guidelines and court directions are yet to achieve the desired result of keeping rivers and lakes free of polluting heavy metals and PoP used in idols. As Durga Puja and Dussehra festivities conclude, rivers and lakes once again became more polluted following immersion of idols worshipped in puja pandals across cities. The guidelines formulated by the Central and state pollution control boards (CPCB and SPCBs) went largely unheeded in spite of some efforts by municipal bodies and police to curtail the practice.

 

 Environmentalists and river experts have been campaigning against these idol immersions for over a decade now. Judicial interventions in the past, however, have not yielded the desired result. Every year, after Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Kali Puja, the biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in rivers increase dramatically.

Keywords: Metal Pollution, CPCB, SPCBs