As millions of Indians flock to the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), one needs to look at how the Ganga and Yamuna rivers are doing.
Can the river ecosystem take the shock of about 40 million people living and bathing in it?
It was only recently that the Yamuna in Delhi was frothing with toxic foam. The river is understood to be carrying industrial and city waste. And despite various National Green Tribunal orders against the discharge of untreated sewage water in the river, practically nothing has been done. I visited Allahabad recently and found that the stretch from the Bullua ghat to Rasoolabad ghat had many sewage creeks entering the river, which bore untreated waste. Most of these sewage lines are right next to designated bathing areas. If we look at the Aarel ghat on the other bank of the river, it tells the same tale. Countless sewage drains also enter the river right before the Triveni Sangam of the Ganga and the Yamuna. Most of this is for all to see, yet so many purported efforts made to stop the sewage from entering the rivers have apparently been fruitless.
The situation is so dire that the sight of dead fish floating in the Ganga and Yamuna is common now. One wonders what happened to the Rs 40,000 crore spent on the Namami Ganga programme in the past decade with Narendra Modi as prime minister. The public relations exercise has failed to clean the river. Far from cleaning the Ganga, the Modi government appears hell bent on further damaging it by allowing hydel projects on her tributaries, thus destroying her ecosystem.
Releasing of more water from dams at Tehri and other hydel projects is only a temporary solution, the health of the river is beyond fragile due to contamination and pollution in Allahabad. The city is ill-equipped to tackle its own sewage waste, so we wonder what will happen once 40 million come to it.
Also read: Supreme Court Panel Clears Five Hydel Projects on Ganga Despite Environmental Concerns
The answer is pretty straight forward, the Ganga will suffer another major blow to its ecosystem once the Kumbh Mela is over. The water of the Ganga is highly polluted and with no plans to reduce sewage and pollutants from entering the river, it will become more toxic. This will end up endangering plants, riverine communities and fishes. The city of Allahabad would have to suffer for months to come from the pollution and a diseased river system.
So what is all this being done for? Definitely not the river Ganga, because if Modi was serious about cleaning the river, then the last 10 years and Rs 40,000 crores is all he needed. If Modi adopted the double-engine approach towards the Namami Ganga programme, maybe there is a good chance the Ganga would be much cleaner and the cities of Allahabad and Kanpur would not be dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage in the rivers everyday.
Most religious sects are also deeply concerned about the river system and also have been given an unfriendly treatment by the Modi government when it comes to inclusion in the planning process. This is also the first ever “corporate” Kumbh – it is being organised with the help of a firm, Ernst and Young.
Many Hindus treat the river Ganga as their mother. Even outside of religion beliefs, it’s a lifeline for a majority of Indians. All would have been deeply happy if the thousands of crores spent on public relations and posters was actually spent on cleaning the river and blocking the sewage drains. That was the real work that needed to be done. It is clear now that the Kumbh Mela 2025 is a religious event that Modi is exploiting for political mileage. The organisers care little for Hindu faith, spirituality or the health of the river Ganga.
Can the Ganga survive another Kumbh? It will, but her ecosystem will be destroyed for humans, plants and marine life alike. This could become a hot bed for infections and further pollute the river.
The river will survive, but I do not think it will be able to heal or nourish anyone for very long afterwards.
Indra Shekhar Singh is an independent agri-policy analyst and writer.
