Now a nullah,waiting to be a river again

In the years that have passed after the temple was built,the watercourse has been reduced to a polluted drain that now carries chemical waste spewed by the industries and untreated sewage expelled by the townships.

Locals now refer to Waldhuni as a nullah (open drain).

After the 2005 deluge,the state government had assured on the floor of the House that the Waldhuni would be cleaned and developed,in a project similar to the one for the Mithi river.

“Yes,we had taken a decision to revive small rivers such as Waldhuni. The project was in the initial stages till I was the chief minister. I have no idea what the status of the plan is right now,” said former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. 

Rajendra Chowdhury,Shiv Sena pramukh of Ulhasnagar who has been vocal in his demand to revive the river,said,“Only the state has the funds to revive it. But nothing seems to be happening.” 

According to Sena corporator from Kalyan,Rajendra Devlekar,after 2005,a committee and a sub-committee were formed,and a preliminary survey was conducted to identify flood levels in Waldhuni. Municipal Commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) is the secretary of the committee chaired by the district collector for the Waldhuni river revival plan,which would basically be to prevent flooding.

Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) officials said that the committee is in the process of floating tenders for conducting a study of the entire 31.8-km stretch of the river that passes through Ambernath,Ulhasnagar and Kalyan. The river finally merges with the Ulhas river at Kalyan. The findings of the study would be presented to the MMRDA for funding the revival plan.

A joint study by the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation and Smt. CHM College reveals that the river was contaminated at its source from faecal pollution. “The chemical load of industrial effluents and microbial load from untreated sewage is high at all points of the river,” said Dr Bela Nabar,project coordinator of the study.

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board official Bharat Nimbharti said that the civic bodies of Ambernath and Ulhasnagar have been dumping untreated sewage into Waldhuni as their respective sewage treatment plants have been defunct since the 2005 deluge.

“The industrial and chemical belt of Ambernath has its own Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) but in Ulhasnagar,the sewage drains are common for industries and residential areas. We have recommended a separate CETP for the jeans factories of Ulhasnagar,” said Nimbharti.

Municipal commissioner Sameer Unhale said that Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation has sought Rs 255 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for constructing three sewage treatment plants.

“Flood remedial measures are just one of the aspects for reviving the river. It is our demand that the steps to reduce pollution and to beautify the river be undertaken,too,” said Devlekar.