IITK Polluting its Neighbors

Barasirohi, with which IIT Kanpur shares a boundary wall, is what you would call the “stereotypical village of urban India”. This village has seen our campus emerge since its inception. Many of the villagers consider IIT Kanpur to be “Mini-America”.

We went to this village, to know more about their basic lifestyle, needs and problems. Over several visits and multiple conversations with local people, we were intrigued by the condition of basic infrastructure facilities; facilities we so often take for granted. And all within the vicinity of our beautiful campus.

We realized that apart from running Shiksha Sopan(which aims to uplift underdeveloped sections of the society through meaningful education), we haven’t done anything significant for our neighboring communities. Quoting the ex- Union Rural Development Minister, Mr.Jairam Ramesh: “I am sure that IIT Kanpur has done more for the US than for Kanpur city”. Certainly makes sense.

Anyway, for once, lets accept it. We, as a community, have a ton of “important” stuff on our plate, and can’t pay heed to the problems nearby. Fine. But then we got to know something shocking.

“The sewage discharged from IIT is responsible for spread of diseases in our area.”, said one village person. “Yes, and singada cultivation, which served as a source of livelihood for some families,is no more possible due to polluted water.”

Yes, IITK is using its neighboring village Barasirohi, with which it shares a boundary wall, as dumping ground for solid-waste and contaminating its ground water through runoff from IITK’s sewage plant/tank. The pictures below tell an interesting story:

And interestingly, IITK has an interdisciplinary M.Tech. and a “vibrant” Ph.D. program in Environmental Engineering and Management, offered by the Civil Engineering Department considered to be “unique across the country.”

By writing this article, we intend to make the IIT Kanpur community aware of this problem, and hope that concerned authorities will take relevant steps to combat this.

This article has been written by Samarth Bansal. Special thanks to Aditya Tandon and Dr.Ashok Gupta(Alumnus of ’72 batch and currently President, IITK Alumni Association – as of 2014).