Haridwar: After conclusion of 10-day Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, which commenced on 22 July this year, Kanwariyas left behind approximately 6,000 tonnes of waste. No, the Haridwar Municipal Corporation launched an extensive sanitation campaign, focusing on riverbanks, including the Har Ki Pauri area and the entire Kanwar mela zone.
Drive to clean up plastic sheets, polythene, and footwear
The Kanwar Mela concluded formally on Friday, but tons of garbage accumulated in the entire fair area including Har Ki Pauri was enough to expose the cleanliness claims. It was pathetic to see the Ghats littered with food items, plastic bottles, polythene foil, clothes, shoes, slippers in a large amount, estimated to be around 6000 tonnes in quantity. The cleanup effort involved removing significant amounts of trash from various ghats. The corporation divided the mela area into seven zones for continuous cleaning throughout the day and deployed additional sanitation workers to manage the increased volume of waste.
Municipal Corporation has a huge army of sanitation workers
During the Kanwar Mela period, the Municipal Corporation employed a substantial workforce of sanitation workers. In addition to the 450 regular and 125 outsourced workers, they hired an additional 1000 workers. The administration is now implementing a special campaign to restore the sanitation system, aiming to have it back on track at the earliest possible.
More than four crore Kanwar pilgrims arrived
According to the administrative figures, the holy city Haridwar has recorded around 4,14,40000 Kanwar pilgrim footfalls this year. During Kanwar Mela, on an average, 600 tonnes of garbage was generated daily. According to this, more than 6000 tonnes of garbage was generated by the end of the Kanwar fair. Officials said normally 200-300 metric tonnes of waste is generated daily in Haridwar, which increases to 500-2000 tonnes during the Kanwar Yatra and other festivals. For the cleaning and disposal of this garbage, the municipal corporation area was divided into seven zones and cleaning inspectors were deployed.
Kanwar Yatra commenced on July 22
The annual ‘Kanwar Yatra’ ended on 2 August witnessing a rush of record number of devotees in Haridwar who come to collect water from the Ganga. This year, during Shravan month, over four crore Shiva devotees visited the holy city of Haridwar for the annual Kanwar Yatra to fetch the Ganga waters for offerings at local temples. In this 10-days long Kanwar Mela, Ganga Ghats, markets, parking lots, and roads were littered with garbage over a 42-km Kanwar stretch from Har-ki-Pauri. According to Tarun Mishra, Senior City Health Officer, Municipal Corporation, Haridwar, “We faced the difficulty in movement of garbage vehicles due to the heavy crowd of Kanwar pilgrims on road. Now the cleanliness campaign is running on the war-footing and authorities are working overtime to clear this garbage.”
