Since I was young, I’ve been involved in many movements and this is why I consider myself an activist at heart. I have been engaged in the 1989 student movement that was defending students’ rights in the university. I also attempted to fight against the Ram Mandir Andolan movement in the 1990’s. Further, when Iraq was attacked by America, I…

Ajeet Bahadur

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Sasur Khaderi River in Uttar Pradesh is being encroached to extinction.

About the Video: The 'Sasur Khaderi' River that passes close to the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh is in the grave danger of going extinct. When the river finally dries, Community Correspondent Ajeeth Bahadur says that the people living across its banks will only have themselves to blame. For the past many years, the village panchayats through which the river passes have been dumping mud into it in an attempt to landfill. The reclaimed land is then sold to interested parties by issuing illegal documents of ownership. These parties end up using the land to build their houses or agricultural land.

"The landscape is altered in a way that it is difficult to believe that once a river ran through it," says Ajeeth. He also says that even though the river has now turned into a minor stream and water tables in the surrounding areas have reached alarming levels of low, the people around the banks are still not aware of the destruction their greed in wrecking on the environment and on themselves.

 "There are a few people who have come together locally as a committee to help protect the river but there needs to be awareness and there needs to be immediate action," says Ajeeth.

 "The community around the river is primarily agricultural. If they have prospered, it is because of the water of river. The river fed their fields, gave them water to drink, they have raised their cattle on this water. What they don't realize that the river is the economic backbone of the region. By killing it, they are essentially chopping off the hand that feeds them."