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Industry closure plan firmed up for clean Ganga during Mahakumbh
This plan by the U.P. environment and climate change department involves temporarily shutting down those industrial units in 23 Uttar Pradesh and two Uttarakhand districts that discharge waste into the Ganga or its catchment area near the Shahi Snan dates during the Prayagraj Mahakumbh
A plan has been drawn to stop the flow of industrial effluents to Prayagraj from various districts to make the Sangam waters clean for bathing during Mahakumbh-2025.
This plan by the state environment and climate change department involves temporarily shutting down those industrial units in 23 Uttar Pradesh and two Uttarakhand districts that discharge waste into the Ganga or its catchment area near the Shahi Snan or Rajsi Snan (royal bathing) dates during the mega religious congregation.
Industries that do not release effluent into the rivers will not be closed. According to the plan to be implemented by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), those industries that are treating all effluents completely or release dry effluents will also not be asked to shut down.
The strategy for closure of the units has been made depending on the time taken by the river water to reach Prayagraj.
“District level committees will be made with district magistrates, UPPCB officials and officials from related departments who will look into implementation of the roster,” said principal secretary, environment, forest and climate change, Anil Kumar.
The local administration has been entrusted with the task of ensuring the units stop all activities that lead to the release of effluents into the river.
“This plan has been made in consultation with irrigation department where we concluded the time taken for water to reach Prayagraj,” member-secretary, UPPCB, Sanjeev Kumar Singh.
For instance, if water from Unnao takes about three days to reach Prayagraj, industrial discharge will be stopped by shutting down industries that release waste three days ahead the Shahi Snan day, according to the irrigation department.
The roster for closure of industrial units is in addition to the work of tapping/diverting drains at the local level with the help of temporary sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Prayagraj and the districts nearby .
The roster has been shared with the respective districts’ administration. The district magistrate concerned have been asked to implement the same.
The Mahakumbh will have six key ritual bathing days -- January 13 (Paush Poornima), 14 (Makar Sankranti) and 29 (Mauni Amavasya), February 3 (Basant Panchami), 12 (Maghi Poornima) and 26 (Maha Shivratri).
As crores of devotees will take a holy dip at the Sangam on these days, the roster has been planned accordingly. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had recently said an estimated 45 crore (450 million) visitors will come to witness Mahakumbh-2025 in Prayagraj both from India and abroad.
Ganga water from Bijnor, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat, Hapur and Ghaziabad takes about nine days to reach Prayagraj, according to the irrigation department.
During the important bathing dates, industrial closure will be enforced for varying durations in the districts concerned in view the river water flow.
Addition of fresh water into the Ganga at different places has been planned particularly from the Narora Dam, in Bulandshahr district. The barrage feeds the Lower Ganga Canal and the Parallel Lower Ganga Canal, which are used for irrigation.
The Narora Dam has been used to supply fresh and clean water to the river in the past also during the mega religious gathering that involves bathing by millions of devotees.
Prayagraj has 81 major drains releasing 277.38 MLD (million litres per day) waste generated in the city. According to a report in September, there were 39 untapped drains discharging 72.41 MLD of untreated sewage in river. Such drains will be tapped/diverted and water will be treated via temporary sewage treatment plants.
