Polluting the Hanisara River, Gilgit
PT Report
Gilgit: The Gilgit River, historically known as Hanisara, is being polluted every day, every hour. Many organizations, civil, military and NGOs are dumping their trash, directly or indirectly, in the Hanisara River, not only turning the turquoise color of the beautiful river muddy, but also poisoning its water.
Ironically, the biggest pollutant of the river are workers of the Municipal Committee, who are supposed to be responsible for keeping the city clean. It appears that they have confined their “cleaning” activities to the Bazar areas and the officials residences of the government and administration officials.
The practice of dumping the city’s trash in the river has been going on for many years. However, despite of numerous media reports, and hue and cry by environment conscious citizens, the government and the administration have completely failed to stop the destructive practice.
It is pertinent to note that the the Gilgit river, having its origin in Shandur, joins with the Hunza River and then with the Indus River, coming from Baltistan, a couple of kilometers downstream. The river’s water is being used for drinking and agricultural purposes in the downstream areas.
The neglect of this critical issue by the city’s administration and the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, situated right across the river, is ironical because every year hundreds of millions of rupees are being spent in region for protecting the environment and water sources.
