- Title: INDIA: Water pollution concerns as millions ready for Kumbh Mela dip
- Date: 13th January 2013
- Summary: ALLAHABAD, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (JANUARY 12, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DEVOTEES GATHERS ALONG THE BANKS OF THE GANGES RIVER BOAT NEAR A BRIDGE OVER THE GANGES ON A FOGGY DAY ALLAHABAD, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (JANUARY 13, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) HINDU PILGRIM DEEP NARAYAN YADAV SAYING: "The water of River Ganges is very polluted. It needs to be cleaned. After b
- Embargoed: 28th January 2013 12:00
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- Location: India
- Country: India
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Environment,Religion
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- Story Text: Millions of India's Hindus will converge to city of Allahabad over the next three months for a dip in the holy Ganges River to wash away their sins during the Kumbh Mela festival, held every six years.
But fears are rising that the mass of devotees will lead to further pollution and affect the river's already critical condition.
The festival starts on January 14 and pilgrims have been arriving since early December.
Hindus consider the Ganges to be blessed and after bathing in the river often collect its waters in bottles and steel containers to take home with them for relatives and friends despite the pollution.
"The water of river Ganges is very polluted. It needs to be cleaned. After bathing here, many people have been ill and have to see a doctor," Hindu Pilgrim Deep Narayan Yadav told Reuters. "Many people take water from here to their homes, but I don't do that."
Earlier this week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned against companies routinely violating pollution rules during the Kumbh Mela and that reservoirs upstream will be opened in an attempt to dilute the dirty river water.
Despite the government spending hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the Ganges over the past three decades, pollution levels seem to be getting worse.
The leather industry in Kanpur, a city around 200 kilometres away from Allahabad, has been blamed for the toxic waters in the Ganges in and around Allahabad. Tanneries have been accused by environmentalists and activists of dumping waste directly into the Ganges instead of transferring it to treatment plants.
Along the stretch of the Ganges, industrial waste is joined by billions of litres of human sewage.
"Despite the river Ganges being very holy, the government hasn't taken enough steps to clean the river," said devotee Ram. "They haven't been successful because direct sewage is still being dumped into the river. The water is not clean today and I don't think it will be clean in the future either."
"Thirty years back when I was a child, I used to come on foot to bathe in the Sangam (confluence of river)," said anti-pollution activist Brajendra Mishra. "But now, we just make dips for the sake of dips because really the water is not up to that strength, that fineness (as it once was)."
At the festival site, plastic bags have been banned and pilgrims have been asked not to use soap while bathing.
A recent study found that the Ganges was so thick with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, that people living near it were more prone to various types of cancer compared to other parts of India.
The 1,500-mile-long river, which flows from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, is one of the world's most polluted rivers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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