Weeding Out Bodies From Mula River

The workers dredging out the weed from Mula river at Bopodi vomitted in the afternoon before having their lunch. The reason? They just had scraps of human flesh flashed across their body. The workers are developing nausea on account of this strange encounters.

The work of moving (not removing) the hyacinth from the riverbed started on Thursday after the intervention of guardian minister of Pune, Ajit Pawar. Hours after the start, the workers belonging to Siddheswar Industries Pvt. Ltd. began experiencing human bodies to the boats they were riding in. Some of the bodies were being cut by the moving cutter fitted with the boats.

"We caught at least five bodies there yesterday. Even today a couple of bodies cut by our machines. Some of the bodies were bound in the sacks," said Vinod G. Khopade, in charge of the operations at the site. The workers were more puzzled by the attitude of police who despite being told about the incidence preferred to look away.
"It is very revolting. We even caught a body of a child. The bodies lie underneath the Hyacinth bed which is spread on the river. Therefore these bodies do not come on the surface and as nobody enters the river because of hyacinth, nobody notices them," said one of the workers.

As the workers move along the river to cut the Hyacinth, bits of human flesh fly in all directions and some of the scraps even get struck in the machine itself. Majority og the bodies are that of babies and kids. Aba Takawane, the contractor of the weed romoving work, said, "My workers are suffering for two days this situation. We had complained about this situation to police but they have not taken any cognizance. Officials tell us that once the body come to the bank, they will look into the matter."

When contacted about this incidence, police personnels at Bopodi police chowky refused that any such incidence has taken place at all. According to policemen, if such a thing would have taken place, everybody in the city would have known it.

(Published in Pune Mirror on 10 May)

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The hazard posed by the Hyacinth seems here to stay. Researchers, activists and authorities are vouching that only way to remove the weed is to dredge it from the river. But the controversy over the manner in which it is dumped and the way it authorities are locking horn is already started. In the tussle, city is feeling the most intense problem in the last decade.

The ongoing work of removing Hyacinth from the Mula river was stopped on Saturday citing Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s notice. But the authorities from PCMC claimed that the work was stopped because of an assurance from Pune Municipal Corporation to complete the work. PMC on the other hand also said that it has finished cleaning its portion of the river.

Dr. Sadashiv Patole, in charge of the Hyacinth removal drive of PMC, said, "We have cleaned our part of the river. Now the ball is in the PCMC’s court. Their work has been stopped and a stretch of five kilometres is choked with Hyacinth. So the situation is still grim."

Dr. R. B. Chavan, Patole’s counterpart in PCMC claimed that the work was stopped because PMC officials promised to complete the task.

Is There Any Solution?
Dr. Vikram Ghole, head of Department of Environment Studies, University of Pune, who has done research on Hyacinth problem, says that the only way we can remove the weed from the river is mechanical one. "Various experiments to weed out the Hyacinths have been done. Even chemicals and bio-chemicals solutions have been looked at. But ultimately the only effective way is to remove it mechanically."

Noted environment expert Sridhar Mahajan also asserted the fact that it is an uphill task to extinguish Hyacinth from the river. "Only way to do it is to remove the pollution. As the pollution level increases, Hyacinth grow in abundance. That is a long term solution and seems difficult at present. Till it is done, removing the weed is only a temporary solution."

Do It and Dump It
Questions have also been asked about the way authorities dump the Hyacinth. While PCMC’s style of dumping the cut Hyacinth in the river directly attracted criticism immediately, PMC’s style also came in the line of fire. Stacks of Hyacinth can be seen on the banks of Mula which are potential breeding ground of insects, worms and mosquitos.

According to Dr. Ghole, College of Military Engineering had started a vermiculture project in its campus wherein Hyacinth were fed to the worms. That was a good and ideal experiment. But PMC and PCMC have other ways to follow. The Hyacinths are either cut and left in the river water so that it can settle in the water once it is rotten, or stacked at the banks. Both of these ways are as hazardous as Hyacinth itself, if not more.

One problem also is almost non-existent use of Hyacinth. "It has a very high content of water i. e. 90 percent. Therefore practically it is impossible to put it to use. We did some experiments and made handmade paper, bio gas etc. from Hyacinth. But the output from those experiments was too low. Therefore it could not to be implemented in practice," said Dr. Ghole.

Who’s Area Is It
If Puneites are faced with the continuance of this problem, it has something also to do with the jurisdiction problem. The Mula river, particularly the Hyacinth infected part, flow from three different administrative regions viz. PMC, PCMC and CME.

While PMC claims that it has removed all the Hyacinth in its area, it blames PCMC of not doing enough. PCMC on its part has appointed people for the task and officials claim every now and then about rooting out the problem. CME has devised an unique way to solve the problem. It has often resorted to putting beams in the reverbed in its limits so that the Hyacinth do not flow there. Its drastic result is realised when PCMC suddenly releases large quantity of water from Pavana river. The Hyacinth there comes flowing with the water with the result that almost all the river gets covered by a green carpet.

This show has been repeated even now with the ongoing drama. The developments this time do not show any sign either of any solution.

(Published in Pune Mirror on 11 May)