Have 50 crore people bathed in sewage water? Refuting this question of the National Green Tribunal, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the water is absolutely fine. It is fit for drinking and bathing.
People can see that the water of Ganga is not clean, yet they are taking a dip. They are not doing this only due to faith. The conditions in which they live in their respective cities are no different from the conditions of Kumbh. The filth and sewage of Kumbh is nothing new for them.
For years, their daily life has been going on in the same kind of filth that they face in Kumbh. Therefore, it does not matter to the people that the water of Ganga is not fit for bathing and drinking.
A Hindu festival held every three years in India, the Maha Kumbh Mela involves a ritual of bathing in the sacred river area where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet.
“There are safe ways for people to gather outside wearing masks, but mass mass with thousands of people immersed in water is not feasible to do safely,” Bhramar Mukherjee, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, US, said earlier this week.
Monks dressed in saffron robes, along with naked ascetics smeared with ash, have trekked for weeks to reach the festival site. They circle the crowd to bestow blessings.
Organizers say the Kumbh Mela is the size of a country, with the combined populations of the United States and Canada expected to be the size of the country.
The riverbank in Prayagraj has been transformed into a vast sea of tents, some luxurious, others simple.
“I have great faith in God. I have waited a long time to bathe in the holy river,” said Jaishree Ben Shahtilal, who took three days to reach the holy site.
About 150,000 toilets have been built for the festival and a network of community kitchens can feed 50,000 people at a time.
