A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has warned of a potential epidemic outbreak at Allahabad if the pollution generated during 2019 Kumbh Mela is not immediately dealt with. The committee directed the UP chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey to take immediate steps to limit the pollution before the onset of monsoon wreaks further havoc.
In the report, the Committee found that a large number of “Toilets waste drains and camps had been constructed at a distance hardly 10 metres from the river.”
The report states, “Sewage received at the Rajapur STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) was in excess of the installed capacity. Only 50% of Rajapur drain was being treated through Geo tube and remaining 50% was being permitted to enter river Ganga without treatment.”
The report says Pollution Department claimed waste segregation was not possible. The Baswar Plant, with a daily capacity of 600 metric tons, which is supposed to treat solid waste was closed down, and yet nearly 965 metric tons of solid waste was sent there daily. In the end more than 60,000 metric ton of untreated, unsegregated solid waste landed up at the plant.
The Committee slammed the shifting of around 2,000 metric ton of unsegregated waste from Kumbh Mela area to the Baswar Plant “knowing fully well that the plant was not operational is grossest violation of the orders of the NGT…”
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The report also blamed the Kumbh Mela authorities to be uncooperative, and attempting to “hoodwink the cleaning of waste…”
The report warns of an “alarming situation which needs to be dealt with on emergency basis to avoid potential of epidemics…”
The report further warns that the action plan to combat pollution must be undertaken before the expected start of Monsoon on 15 June, 2019.
The 2019 Kumbh Mela which lasted for 50 days was claimed to be the most expensive and ‘cleanest’ in history by the BJP-led state and central government. Even the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the efforts of sanitation staff and washed their feet. However, despite all the eyewash and PR tactics, the ground reality says something else.