- Nearly five crore pilgrims visited Haridwar for the Kanwar Yatra this Sawan season
- Heaps of trash, including plastic and discarded clothing, were left behind on ghats
- At least 7,000 tonnes of garbage were moved to dumping grounds in Haridwar post-Yatra
The annual Kanwar Yatra is over, and the Land of Gods now has mountains of trash to deal with.
Nearly five crore pilgrims visited Haridwar, in 'Devbhoomi' Uttarakhand, to collect water from the Ganga this Sawan. As they made their way back after Shivratri, they left behind heaps of trash.
Visuals showed discarded clothing, plastic items, and Kanwar structures scattered on the ghats.
The ghat wasn't any less dirty at Har ki Pauri, the most iconic of the over hundred ghats in Haridwar.
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In the changing rooms, discarded water bottles filled with urine were left behind. Videos showed cleaners without gloves or masks removing those bottles with just a shovel.
The incident has sparked outrage among the locals. Describing it as "unfortunate", one of them pointed out the irony that devotees walk long stretches to reach the Ganga and then leave it in such a state.
At least 7,000 tonnes of garbage has been moved to the dumping grounds in Haridwar, according to authorities, resulting in what resembles mountains of garbage.
"Following Shivratri yesterday, all our teams worked through the night to clean the ghats, as well as all parking areas and roads," said Municipal Commissioner Nandan Kumar.
Not just Haridwar and Rishikesh, thousands of devotees trekked to higher reaches to collect water from the Ganga. During Sawan, an estimated 57,000 pilgrims visited Gangotri, which marks the source of the river considered sacred, in Uttarkashi.
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On their way back, the pilgrims left behind tons of trash, including discarded clothes, plastics, and other items, which poses a major threat to the ecologically sensitive area, the flora, and fauna.
This despite Gangotri being a designated plastic-free zone. The area is part of the highly sensitive Himalayan ecosystem, and the plastic accumulation indicates a blatant violation of the environmental rules.
It not only poses a major threat to the forest resources, but many feel it also threatens the sanctity of the pilgrimage site.
The forest department undertook a special cleanliness drive in Gangotri after the conclusion of the Yatra. During the cleanup drive, as many as 57 sacks of waste were collected for disposal.
(Inputs by Rahul Chauhan)
