Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti began her clean-Ganga verification yatra on a wheelchair on which she identified spots where the river was the most polluted in Bijnor and JP Nagar on the first day of her campaign. She started the campaign on a wheelchair as she was suffering from muscular spasm and back pain. The sadhvi, who had undertaken a clean-Ganga yatra earlier in the year, had also met UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on December 9 to demand that the holy river flowed clean into the Kumbh area and beyond, at least during the mega religious event.

“Despite the CM’s assurance, Umaji found that factory waste was still flowing into the Ganga. We still hope that the government does something,” her aides Rajesh Katiyar and Amarpal said.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister has also written a letter to the UP CM on the issue. BJP media in-charge Narendra Singh Rana quoted the sadhvi as saying that action should be initiated against those whose industrial outlets continued to empty toxic waste into the holy river.

“She found waste from dozen industries continuing to flow into the Chhuiyya river that meets the Ganga. Umaji has demanded action before January 14, when the 55-day mega congregation kicks off,” says Rana. Villagers accompanied Bharti during the verification drive that would end at Prayag on January 13.