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Allahabad high court bans cremation on the banks of Ganga at Kanpur

The Allahabad high court has come to the rescue of the holiest Hindu river Ganga which has been craving for some respite from rampant pollution.

But Hindus are up in the arms, as the court order threatens to put an end to their centuries-old tradition of cremating dead bodies on the banks of the river.

Following a public interest litigation moved by environmentalist Rakesh Kumar Jaiswal against the alarming river water pollution, the court has banned the cremation of dead bodies on the banks of the river at Kanpur.

The petition had drawn the court's attention to the fact that the river -- which covers only one-third of its 2,500-km course by the time it reaches Kanpur, originating as it does in the Himalayas -- was the 'worst polluted' by the time it reaches the Uttar Pradesh city. He blamed the city's leather tanneries, alleging that they discharge their filthy waste into the river.

Kanpur District Magistrate Prabhat Kumar told Rediff On The NeT, ''We have decided to declare the main 200-metre stretch along the river bank at the popular Bharion Ghat (where Hindus converge from different corners of Uttar Pradesh to cremate their dead) as a no-man's zone. We have also deployed several policemen to ensure enforcement of the court order.''

According to Kumar, even immersion of ashes in the river has been disallowed.

However, he said there was no restriction on cremation of bodies on the specially built brick platforms, away from the river bank.

The ban is being resented by local pandits, who find the order unfair and against all traditions and religious conventions. Dinesh Chandra, a local pundit who has been performing Hindu last rites, said, ''How can the ban be justified when the government itself has been immersing the ashes of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi?''

Vijay Narain, a local businessman, threatened to defy the ban. ''This is the natural right of Hindus,'' he said. ''How can it be stopped?''

Environmentalist Agarwal, however, is keen on implementing the order. ''A stage has come where people will have to decide whether they would want to live or cling to their religious dogmas and meet their end due to unchecked environmental pollution,'' he said.

Commenting on the alarmingly river water pollution at Kanpur, Kumar said, ''The bio oxygen demand in the river water in the city was 400 mg as against the permissible limit of 30 mg.''

The court order also takes a serious note of the official apathy in tapping the city's potable water supply from around the main cremation area, with a sewage outlet too in the vicinity.

The court has further directed the state authorities to carry out surveys to assess the extent of pollution at major cities along the river banks. And, since cremation of bodies is a regular practice at all these places, the ban may be extended to other cities too.

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