THE Ravi River is truly facing complete devastation. Unmonitored industrial waste, untreated sewage and excessive water extraction have degraded it into a toxic wasteland, posing a serious threat to public health, livelihoods and the environment. If this negligence persists, Ravi will be lost beyond recovery.

Pollution has made the water unfit for human use, spreading deadly diseases, such as hepatitis and cholera. Farmers naively irrigate crops with unhygienic water, introducing poisons into our food chain. The drying riverbed worsens air pollution, causing respiratory illnesses.

Meanwhile, the destruction of Ravi also erases a fundamental part of cultural and historical identity of Punjab. This is both an environmental crisis and a governance failure.

Laws exist, but they remain confined to being mere words on paper, while industries continue to pollute the river.

Wastewater treatment plants are failing, and, shockingly, saving Ravi remains nowhere on the national agenda.

The provincial government must intervene,enforceindustrialregulations, establish proper sewage treatment, restore water flow, and mobilise public awareness.

If we stay indifferent, Ravi will become a buried chapter of our history a stark warning of the cost of our inaction.

Muhammad Shahjahan Memon Islamabad