The Kanwar pilgrims did complete their Yatra & returned, but left 2400 metric ton of garbage behind. The water sources and other areas have been highly polluted. Ganga river banks have heaps of garbage everywhere you see. The entire atmosphere seems polluted and local people are facing a lot of problems. Not only the local inhabitants but the other pilgrims coming later to the pious Ganga are not getting their share of purity.
About 4 crore Kawar pilgrims took the pure Ganga water, and made the rest of it unusable. The authorities will take about a week to be able to clean the filth. The obnoxious odor has spread in the entire city and is potent to cause disease outbreaks.
The Kawad journey began on 10th July. Whatever waste was generated during the journey, were dumped inside the Ganga or on the roads. This included wastes such as plastic bottles, food leftovers, clothing, wilted flowers and even polybags. Open defecation in areas like Harki Paidi, Malviya Ghat, Mahila Ghat, Subhash Ghat, Bhupatwala and Trishikul Maidan has made it impossible to breathe. People find it hard to even cross those areas while travelling across the city.
Nagar Nigam official Ashok Kumar Pandya told media, that generally 200 tonnes of garbage is produced in one or two days. But during this period of 10 days about 2400 metric tonne trash has been generated. A special team will be required to clean the city and it will take longer time as the entire city needs to be cleaned.
Plastic items were sold despite ban on plastic
Haridwar is amongst the places that have banned plastic. Nevertheless temporary shops were setup to sell plastic items. Water cans, plastic sheets and rain covers were sold openly. Police did not enquire or interrupt the illegal sale. There were few enquiries, but all terminated without taking any action against defaulters. The places where plastics were openly sold include Ganga ghats, Rodibelwala, Pant Dweep, Kankhal and Dam Kothi.
The Kawad pilgrims bring the previous years incensory and other stuff. These have to be flown in the holy Ganga while performing the religious proceedings. All this has polluted the city entirely. Unless rain washes away the filth and the authorities clean the city, there is high risk of disease outbreak.