 "Varanasi")
On an e-rickshaw on the road to Benares Hindu University, Alka, a third-year student, is all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A first time voter, she thinks Modi is a doer. “Just go to the Assi ghat and see for yourself. The place is completely unrecognisable. It is so clean and cultural events are held every day.”
Assi Ghat is the southern most of the 84 ghats along the Ganga river that form the core of Varanasi. The ghat gets its name from its location at the confluence of Ganga and Assi, a tributary. Cleaning the ghat might have been easy, cleaning the Assi river is a different matter altogether.
“People have encroached it over decades. Nadhi ko Nala banaya, Abhi Nala se Nali ho gaya (Encroachments made the river a canal, now it’s no more than a drain),” said Motichand Mishra, Assistant Registrar – Sanitary and Support Services, BHU.
Mishra is not off the mark. A few hundred metres from the face-lifted Assi Ghat, flows Assi. The water is black, with a greenish tinge. The stink is unbearable, but the buffaloes that are taking a dip and dwellers on its bank seem to have gotten used to it.
Untreated sewerage
What flows today in Assi is untreated sewage, says Sanjay Kumar Singh, General Manager, Ganga Pollution prevention unit, UP Jal Nigam. Varanasi generates about 300 million litres (MLD) of sewage everyday. It has three functioning sewage treatment plants (STP) currently. The main STP at Dinapur has a capacity of 80 MLD, while the one at Bhagwanpur has 8.9 MLD. A third at Diesel Locomotive Works has a capacity of 11.2 MLD.
Together, these have a combined capacity of about 101 MLD. “Thus, we are able to treat only a third of the sewage. The rest – about two thirds of sewage generated by the city – goes untreated into Assi and its Northern cousin Varuna (Varanasi derives its name from these two rivers) and eventually flowing into Ganga,” Singh adds.
Ram Gopal Mohley, the Mayor of Varanasi, who belongs to the BJP said the election of Prime Minister Modi from the constituency has changed the face of the city and more will change after March 11, the date of election results. He said, “Public is ready for improvement. And, they don’t mind paying for it. But, somewhere, we are not able to provide the service.”
Mohley blames the indifferent state government. “The sewer lines in the city are over a hundred years old. These are being cleaned up and rehabilitated. Only after the arrival of the Narendra bhai Modi government at the centre, so much is happening. But the implementation is that of state government.”
He feels the government of the day sure has a rub off effect of agencies functioning under it. Egged by the centre the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) under Mohley has brought in reputed players to clean up the city.
Assi Ghat is the southern most of the 84 ghats along the Ganga river that form the core of Varanasi. The ghat gets its name from its location at the confluence of Ganga and Assi, a tributary. Cleaning the ghat might have been easy, cleaning the Assi river is a different matter altogether.
“People have encroached it over decades. Nadhi ko Nala banaya, Abhi Nala se Nali ho gaya (Encroachments made the river a canal, now it’s no more than a drain),” said Motichand Mishra, Assistant Registrar – Sanitary and Support Services, BHU.
Mishra is not off the mark. A few hundred metres from the face-lifted Assi Ghat, flows Assi. The water is black, with a greenish tinge. The stink is unbearable, but the buffaloes that are taking a dip and dwellers on its bank seem to have gotten used to it.
Untreated sewerage
What flows today in Assi is untreated sewage, says Sanjay Kumar Singh, General Manager, Ganga Pollution prevention unit, UP Jal Nigam. Varanasi generates about 300 million litres (MLD) of sewage everyday. It has three functioning sewage treatment plants (STP) currently. The main STP at Dinapur has a capacity of 80 MLD, while the one at Bhagwanpur has 8.9 MLD. A third at Diesel Locomotive Works has a capacity of 11.2 MLD.
Together, these have a combined capacity of about 101 MLD. “Thus, we are able to treat only a third of the sewage. The rest – about two thirds of sewage generated by the city – goes untreated into Assi and its Northern cousin Varuna (Varanasi derives its name from these two rivers) and eventually flowing into Ganga,” Singh adds.
Ram Gopal Mohley, the Mayor of Varanasi, who belongs to the BJP said the election of Prime Minister Modi from the constituency has changed the face of the city and more will change after March 11, the date of election results. He said, “Public is ready for improvement. And, they don’t mind paying for it. But, somewhere, we are not able to provide the service.”
Mohley blames the indifferent state government. “The sewer lines in the city are over a hundred years old. These are being cleaned up and rehabilitated. Only after the arrival of the Narendra bhai Modi government at the centre, so much is happening. But the implementation is that of state government.”
He feels the government of the day sure has a rub off effect of agencies functioning under it. Egged by the centre the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) under Mohley has brought in reputed players to clean up the city.
Varansi Mayor Ram Gopal Mohley says the sewer lines in the city, which are over a hundred years old, are being cleaned up and rehabilitated
