Agra, Jan 16 (IANS) A group of US green activists was shocked to see the state of river Yamuna behind the Taj Mahal. 'My god, you call this a river!' said one of them.

The group represents river cleaning foundations in the US. Shocked activist Ginny Harris of the Alice Ferguson Foundation which is involved in the Potomac river cleaning in Washington DC, exclaimed: 'My god, you call this a river!' while interacting with local activists at a meeting here.

The team members, including environmental engineer Subijoy Dutta, Maryland activist Dick Lahn, Harris, Sumit, Ram Koduri, who was in charge of Chicago's sewage and water system for 25 years, visited several sites along the Yamuna river bank in the Taj city and interacted with local activists, researchers and faculty in the Agra University to work out a citizen's initiative to clean up the river.

Harris told IANS: 'Our major concern is trash. Agra activists and students of several schools have agreed to pick up trash from the Yamuna river bed at several ghats in the city March 22.'

Lahn said: 'People should remember that everything is attached to everything and everything eventually goes and comes back to you, as mankind cannot live beyond the limits set by nature.' The river Yamuna is not only a life sustaining entity but also a very important heritage asset, Lahn added.

At the meeting, the green activists urged the people to save the river and stop further contamination by not discharging effluents and sewer directly without treatment.

'The habit of throwing litter and everything useless into rivers and ponds must change. Pressure groups should monitor the working of the river police, and ensure strict enforcement of environmental laws,' one of them said.

To the question 'Can the river Yamuna be saved?', he said: 'Why not? Emerging cleanup technologies promise a lot of hope for the future. For now, don't let the water body be used as a sewage canal.'

(Brij Khandelwal can be contacted at brij.k@ians.in)