People of Agra won't need to visit Prayagraj for a holy dip in the Sangam

In a few weeks from now, the residents of the Taj City will start getting Ganga water from their municipal taps and the faithfuls would then be able to take a holy dip in the new 'Sangam', when the Yamuna will start receiving Ganga water through a 130-kilometre-long pipeline.

BJP legislators Yogendra Upadhyaya and Jagan Prasad Garg on Tuesday performed a puja on the Kailash bridge where the twins (Ganga and Yamuna) meet, amidst chanting of mantras and slogans.

Work on the Rs 3,000-crore project began a decade ago, but the momentum was given by the Yogi government which wanted it completed before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The pipeline from Bulandshahar's Palra Jhaal canal of the river Ganga was to have been commissioned in November last year. The date was postponed after the refusal of the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department to fell some trees for the project.

The members of the Central Empowered Committee set up by the Supreme Court visited the site in March and demanded to know from the UP Jal Nigam how the green cover lost due to the project would be compensated. A vacant stretch in Firozabad district has now been identified where plantation work would start shortly.

The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam to plant 2,500 saplings, maintain and look after them for 10 years to compensate the felling of 234 trees that came in the way of the Ganga Jal pipeline that will bring water to the Taj City.

The 20-lakh odd citizens are supplied water from two water works. Against the demand for 500 million litres a day, the supply is about 300 million litres. The gap is likely to be met by the new Ganga water pipeline.

--IANS

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