Patalganga River

The Patalganga River is a river that rises in the steep western scarps of the Matheran uplands where it branches off from the main ridge near Khopoli and maintains a general westward flow till it joins the Dharamtar Creek with a wide estuary. The tail-waters of the Khopoli power project are let into the river near Khopoli in Maharashtra, India.It comes at foremost in terms of pollution.It is one of the most polluted rivers of maharashtra,source being from Patalganga MIDC.Industries in Patalganga MIDC include (see the site )https://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/213094806/Patalganga-Factory-List The companies above contribute polluting the river.MPCB provides no proper data regarding water quality which is a point which limits the protests from various NGO's and locals .Nowadays ,locals from villages on banks of patalganga river (Turade,Kalivali,Apta,Dushmi,Kharpada,Rave) complain about the poisoning caused by consuming fishes.Biodiversity of patalganga river is under serious threat due to the harmful chemicals from the dyeing,fertilizer,pesticides,insecticides,alkyl amines industries. Effect of pollution on farming:

Industries have their effluents released after the Chawne dam (Bandhara, small level built for water supply ,was used until recently before construction of Hetawane dam). Mostly at dawn or dusk effluents are released without treating (possible by bribing officers of midc and mpcb).

In Mahabharatha, when Bhishm was about to die, Arjuna is said to have extracted groundwater, namely, Patalganga, by shooting an arrow which made a hole in the ground and created a fountain.

According to the Puranas, there are three tributaries of the River Ganges and they are Swarg Ganga (Mandakini), Bhoo Ganga (Bhagirathi) and Patal Ganga (Bhagvati). Before entering into the sea, the Ganges divides into several tributaries and then merges into the Bay of Bengal.

The Patalganga river has been mentioned in ancient vedic texts and the temples in Turade-Karade area and its banks were considered holy and a Dip in the river is considered pious to mention the least. Bhawanipatna is close to Patalganga, a natural Hot spring worshipped as the holy River Ganges by the locals and worshippers.

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