'Effluents polluting Narmada river'

Chemical effluents from factories and waste from towns are steadily turning Narmada river into a drain and its various rivulets too are fast depleting, Magsaysay awardee Rajender Singh said on Friday.

Expressing concern over the prevailing condition of the river, Singh told IANS that there was a time when Narmada was mentioned among one of the least polluted rivers. But now the drainages of the local towns along the river and industrial waste have polluted it.

Terming chemical fertilisers as a major threat for the river, Singh said it is, however, the flow of chemical waste into the river which is posing the biggest danger to it and must be stopped.

Singh, who was in the state to participate in a Narmada-related 'Manthan' event, also called for increasing the greenery along the river to save it.