NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports about lives and livelihood of two million people being adversely impacted by severe pollution of Jojari river near Jodhpur because of discharge of untreated waste water by more than 400 steel rolling and textile units. The court said it would pass a comprehensive order on Oct 9 for the river’s “restoration”.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta told Rajasthan’s additional advocate general Siv Mangal Sharma that National Green Tribunal (NGT) has already taken cognisance of Jojari’s pollution, and said remedial steps are to be taken urgently to save it. Sharma said several directions by NGT have been challenged in SC and are pending adjudication.Polluted river water unusable even for animals Jojari is a seasonal river, which originates in Pandalu village of Nagaur, and after joining Luni river at Balotra flows through the limits of Jodhpur. For the past two decades, the untreated discharge of chemicals from over 400 textile and steel units has rendered the river water unusable even for animals, impacting the lives of residents of 50 villages along it Jodhpur-Barmer stretch.The river is the source of drinking water for villagers in the Thar desert. Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board also noted, “Farmers use the water. Consumption of such agricultural products can have adverse effects on the human body as toxic heavy metals are present.” Apart from the pH value, the total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, and oil and grease quantities in the samples taken from Jojari were found to be much higher than the prescribed standards, the report said. There are reports of people migrating from villages adjoining the river because of severe water shortage. The biodiversity of the area has also suffered with flora and fauna disappearing.
