After human interference caused the Alaka river in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district to be reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, it is the people who are now coming forward to revive the river which is the lifeline for several thickly-populated villages.
Popular movements to revive the 'dying' river have gathered momentum in the habitations lying along its banks even as encroachments in such zones continues to be a major concern.
The river, which is crucial for a large number of villages in the Biridi, Jagatsinghpur, Naugaon, Balikuda and Erasama blocks, originates as a tributary of Kathjodi river in Birabarpatana of Biridi block and is squeezed into a truncated canal as it meanders through Balikuda block.
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Ratnakar Nayak, secretary of 'Save Alaka Campaign', alleges that government agencies are squarely to blame for the sorry state of the river while its president, Susanta Mohapatra, points out that illegal structures have come up along its banks, impeding its flow.
Construction of check dams, arrest of sewer lines and clearing of encroachments would go a long way towards protecting the Alaka, adds Mohapatra.
"But the water resources department has closed its eyes to it. The insensitive attitude of the authorities concerned prompted us to move Orissa High Court for remedial measures," he says. Responding to the PIL, the high court has issued show-cause notices to the state government, he adds.
Encroachers along the river bank include government agencies, Mohapatra claims even as he charges that these have over the years, turned the Alaka into a narrow canal.
Such illegal structures have clogged a 40-km stretch of the river in such a way that its breadth has been reduced to less than 15-ft in the better part of the area through which it flows.
Historically, a primary channel for trade, the river had a width of around 100-ft during the 60s, he says. The river, which used to be wider earlier, now looks like being no more than a drain. It has got bifurcated near Nailo village in Balikuda block. The Cuttack-Machagaon irrigation canal is posing stumbling blocks in the downstream flow of the river, Mohapatra adds.
