In the course of a visit to about 25 villages located in four districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, the author came across several examples of village communities coming together to fight pollution and displacement. In some cases a leading role has been played by elected village pradhans. In fact in the case of the pollution caused in Aami river, eight village pradhans of Gorakhpur district assembled to discuss this issue with the author and said with one voice that the life and livelihood of their people has been badly ruined by the alarming pollution of Aami river.