Narmada Samagra, Bhopal

Source: English      Date: 12/21/2011 5:12:14 PM

There are many rivers in India but river Narmada has a historic significance, unhampered even today. Narmada is the only river whose parikrama (rotational journey) has a religious significance. The river is next to mother for the people; they call it Narmada Maiya (mother Narmada) with great respect. Mythological kings, seers and rishis used to reside along the banks of Narmada.
Many big cities are situated on the banks of Narmada and a number of large industries are also being run. Including Sardar Sarovar, many big dams have been constructed on river Narmada. Due to all these reasons, Narmada water, that has been regarded as sacred since ancient times, is polluting day by day. In order to nip this pollution in the bud and maintain the historical, mythological and religious significance of Narmada, Narmada Samagra, a voluntary organization from Bhopal is working quite effectively from last several years.
The organization has been established with a view to unite various organizations working for water resource management round the globe and protect the tribes and communities associated with those resources.
Rajya Sabha MP and social activist Anil Madhav Dave Ji is the man behind Narmada Samagra. Along with the dignitaries like Amritlalji Vegad, senior artist & parikramavasi, Dave Ji moulded the concept of Narmada Samagra. He himself has performed the parikrama of the holy river by road, air and boat. In this journey, he visited many ashrams run by seers and temples located on the banks of the river. He communicated with people belonging to different tribes and took a detailed account of their problems. At various places, he tested the water pollution level and also inspected the industries that are adding to the pollution of the river.
Challenges: Pollution-free Narmada; reviewing the depletion of the banks and ensuring its protection; development of the region surrounding the valley; maintaining the mythological and religious significance of Narmada along with its development from tourism point of view; maintaining the purity of Narmada water like it was in 19^th century and ensuring that the same will also be maintained in the year 2047 when the nation will celebrate the centenary of its Independence are some of the challenges before Narmada Samagra.
Plans: Maintaining the environment around Narmada and purity of water, propagating the cultural, historical and religious significance of the river and bringing an awakening among people are the main objectives of Narmada Samagra. Besides this, the focus is also being laid on other aspects such as
1) Hariyali Chunari Prakalp: Planting saplings along the banks in large numbers and conserving the forest region.
2) Improving the river’s health: Considering that the river also has life, making efforts are to strengthen its health that includes publishing the information such as purity of water, salinity of soil, etc every year.
3) Paryavaran Panchkoshi Yatra: Visiting the villages situated on the banks of Narmada; creating awareness among villagers regarding the conservation of river; preventing the release of pollutants in river water and ensuring the cleanliness of the banks.
4) Research and development: Exploring the new avenues of research and utilizing them for the work of development that has to be done for the welfare of villages.
For effective implementation of these objectives and creating awareness about all these aspects, Narmada Samagra had organized international convention on conservation of rivers in the year 2008 and 2010 at Bandrabhan village located near Hoshangabad city of Madhya Pradesh. 577 representatives from all over the world attended the meet in 2008 in which 110 research papers were presented. This strength was increased to 733 in 2010. A number of important resolutions were passed in these conventions regarding the conservation of Narmada.
Contact
Narmada Samagra
Nadi Ka Ghar, Senior MIG-2, Ankur Colony
Near Parul Hospital
Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal-462016
Madhya Pradesh, India
Phone no: +91 7552460754, +91 7552553283
Email: narmadasamagra@gmail.com
How to reach
By air: Bhopal Airport, also known as Raja Bhoj Airport, is 15 km away from the heart of the city. Bhopal Airport is connected to Mumbai, Indore, Gwalior and Delhi. International flights to Gulf cities like Sharjah and Dubai are operated from Bhopal.
By train: Bhopal Railway Station is a major railhead on Mumbai – Delhi broad gauge. It has connection trains to all major cities in India.
By road: Lots of bus facilities, public and private, are available in Bhopal. All cities in the state are connected to Bhopal by bus services. Overnight deluxe buses from Delhi, Gwalior and Jabalpur are available to Bhopal.

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