At a two-day meeting, which concluded on Saturday, they decided to give the government an ultimatum to form a committee that would prepare the environment status report of Gujarat by May 30. The date has been fixed in view of the World Environment Day, which is on June 4.

The samiti has also demanded that the committee should comprise industrialists, members of Central Gujarat Pollution Board (CPCB), and village sarpanchs.

The activists have drawn the government's attention to the surface pollution in five rivers — Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada, Tapi, Damanganga — and ground water pollution in almost 14 districts of the state.

Rohit Prajapati, a PSS activist, said: “It is according to the government-formed Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC) report—which was formed a few years ago—that said there are 14 district comprising around 74 taluka where ground water is highly polluted.”

During a recent visit to Ankleshwar and other polluted areas, the activists witnessed pollution in the water bodies, Prajapati added. “It is an urgency to form a committee which takes a the duty to resolve this issue,” he added.

Commenting on the present pollution scenario, he said: “With the number of industries increasing in Gujarat, the pollution is now quite visible. It was noticed during our visit to the Ankleshwar that some of the wells are getting polluted day by day.”

According to the GEC report, he said, in Ankleshwar, the groundwater contains a high proportion of cadmium and copper, while in areas such as Pardi and Mehemdavad it has high quantity of mercury.

Polluting levels in rivers
SABARMATI
n The stretch from Vasna-Narol Bridge downstream to Vautha is polluted, with most parameters having values exceeding the recommended limit. At Vautha in Dholka taluka of Ahmedabad district, the water is dark brown, and sodium and chloride exceed the prescribed limit. The presence of Bacteria Oxygen Demand (BoD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (CoD), hardness and coliform organisms is also high

MAHI
n The presence of coliform organisms is high, indicating pollution from domestic wastewater. Mahi has a tributary, Mini, which passes adjacent to the Nandesari and several other major industries before meeting Mahi

NARMADA
n Downstream of Narmada’s confluence with Amlakhadi is a major pollution carrier from three large industrial units: Ankleshwar, Panoli and Jhagadia. At Sattiarpur Bhata, the presence of coliform organisms is high. Manganese is the only heavy metal present in the water at this point. At Ambetha, the presence of heavy metals manganese (17.5 mg/L), chromium, cadmium, copper and lead is very high

TAPI
n The BoD value near Hazira village is above the recommended limit. The levels of CoD near Hazira are appreciably high. Free ammonia is present at most points. Among the physical parameters, TDS and hardness in Hazira village are high. As for the presence of heavy metals, that of chromium exceeds the drinking water standard (0.05 mg/L) along the stretch from Mandvi up to the upstream and manganese, lead and zinc are also present

DAMANGANGA
n In the downstream stretch, the level of a number of parameters like colour, BoD, CoD, Total Dissolved Solutes (TDS), sulphate, chlorides, lead, ammonia, hardness and sodium exceed the standards. CoD, ammonia, TDS and chlorides are released in high concentrations into the river