"Red, Green Or Black": UP's Hindon River Turns Toxic Due To Pollution

A long stretch of Uttar Pradesh's Hindon river has turned toxic due to rampant industrial pollution in the region.

The sight of streams of dye discharge flowing into the river through piles of garbage is not new for the locals. They say the river turns red, green, yellow or pitch black, depending on the specific colour dominantly used by the dyeing factories.

A resident of Uttar Pradesh's Bahlolpur village told NDTV that the river water had turned deep red yesterday.

The chemicals and dye waste released by the factories in the Hindon basin has contaminated the river water.

Apart from trade effluents, sewage waste also flows into the water, making it unfit for human consumption.

In March this year, the National Green Tribunal had directed the state agencies to take remedial action for controlling river pollution.

The green panel had earlier ordered "intensive survey" of the Kali, Krishna and the Hindon river in western Uttar Pradesh and directed the inspection of industries which were allegedly polluting the water bodies.

Locals, however, claim that despite the government and judiciary's intervention, several illegal industries are still operating in the region.

The Hindon is a tributary of the Yamuna which originates in Saharanpur and passes through Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat and Ghaziabad, before merging with the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar district.