Mula-Mutha River

The Mula-Mutha is a river in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, formed by the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers in the city of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, which later meets the

Bhima River The Bhima River (also known as Chandrabhaga River) is a major river in Western India and South India. It flows southeast for through Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana states, before entering the Krishna River. After the first sixty-five ki ...

, which itself later meets the Krishna River and finally emptying to the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

. The river flows through the village of

Kavadi Kavadi Aattam (Tamil: காவடி ஆட்டம், Malayalam: കാവടിയാട്ടം) ("Burden Dance") is a ceremonial sacrifice and offering practiced by devotees during the worship of Murugan,Kent, Alexandra. ''Divinity and Di ...

in the

Pune district Pune district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uɳeː is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The district's population was 9,429,408 in the 2011 census, making it the fourth most populous district amongst I ...

, witnesses many migratory birds. However, increase in pollution in the recent years has resulted in a reduction in the number of birds. Pollution from effluents released into the river at

has been found to cause high levels of pollution in the

, the reservoir of

Ujani dam Ujjani Dam, also known as Bhima Dam or Bhima Irrigation Project, on the Bhima River, a tributary of the Krishna River, is an earthfill cum Masonry gravity dam located near Ujjani village of Madha Taluk in Solapur district of the state of Mahar ...

and Krishna River, too, resulting in many water-borne ailments. Due to high levels of pollution, including 125 MLD of untreated sewerage water being discharged into the river by the

Pune Municipal Corporation The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC, IAST: Puṇe Mahānagarpālikā) is the civic body that governs the inner limits of Pune, India. It is in charge of the civic needs and infrastructure of the metropolis, which is spread over an area of 484 ...

, the

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board ( mr, महाराष्ट्र प्रदूषण नियंत्रण मंडळ) (established 7 September 1970) implements a range of environmental legislation in the state of Maharashtra, ...

has classified the water quality to be of ''Class-IV''. The Pune Municipal Corporation announced plans to clean up and restore the river by pumping in oxygen on the lines of restoration efforts undertaken in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

for the

Mithi River The Mithi River (Pronunciation: iʈʰiː is a river on Salsette Island, the island of the city of Mumbai, India. It is a confluence of tail-water discharges of the Powai and Vihar lakes. The river is seasonal and rises during the monsoons. ...

. In 2011, it was reported that several Japanese businessmen were keen on offering support to a plan initiated by the ''

Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture The Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) is an Indian business advocacy and networking group located in Pune, serving businesses in the state of Maharashtra. It was established in 1934 by Atmaram Raoji Bhat, and is one ...

'' and supported by the

to clean up and beautify the Mula-Mutha river. The same year, the Pune Municipal Corporation gave its approval to build a riverside road on the banks of the Mula-Mutha from Shivane to

Kharadi Kharadi is a suburb located in the Eastern Metropolitan Corridor of Pune, India, on the banks of the Mula-Mutha river that serves as a hub for information technology and business parks. Initially, it was referred to as a village however, during ...

, covering a distance of to link several important roads in the city. In 2014, the

Pune Police Pune City Police Department (PCPD) is the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over 790 km2 in the city of Pune, India. The city police is division of Maharashtra Police, i.e state police department of Maharashtra. The current Pune C ...

discovered that

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

plants were being grown on the riverbed near

. In 2022, the

under the ruling party

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

has given its nod to spend over Rs5,500 crore on the improvement and beautification of the Mula-Mutha river in the coming years, in this two mega projects including development of the riverfront (total Rs4,000 crore) and rejuvenation of the river (total Rs1,500 crore) will take place.

See also

References