UPPCB takes step to keep Ganga clean for Magh Mela

Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has taken effective steps to keep Ganga water clean during the Magh Mela to be held in Prayagraj.
A couple of days back, the board had collected water samples from Farrukhabad to Fatehpur and found them satisfactory.
According to Anil Kumar Mathur of the regional pollution control board Kanpur office, one team had visited Fatehpur and another to Farrukhabad to collect water samples.
Talking to TOI, Mathur said water samples are collected regularly. The dissolved Oxygen level at the Ganga Barrage point and the Jajmau point was found around 10 mg per litre against 5mg per litre which is the normal value. Similarly, the dissolved Oxygen levels at all other points were found 10 mg per litre.
The Pollution Control Board had already sent the roaster to the tanneries of the city located in the Jajmau area.
As per the roaster, the tanneries in Jajmau will have to stop wet tanning three days before each day till March when the Magh Mela will end.
The 47-day mela will begin on January 14 and conclude on March 1 on the Mahashivratri day. There will be six main bathing days during the mela---Makar Sankranti (January 14/15), Paush Purnima (January 17), Mauni Amavasya (February 1), Basant Panchami (February 5), Maghi Purnima (February 16) and Mahashivratri (March 1), Mathur said.
The district magistrate has constituted a committee to keep a tab on tanneries and it will go to the field from January 11.
A meeting of the members of the committee was held here and discussed the ways to implement the state government’s directives. Moreover, special directives have been issued to keep an eye on the distilleries situated on the bank of Ganga. Those units would be specifically monitored which had been punished recently, Mathur further said.
Meanwhile, in a public interest litigation (PIL), the Allahabad high court has directed the state government to release 3200 cusec water in Ganga so that devotees could get clean water. It must be ensured the discharge of sewer or nullahs is not poured into the river without getting it treated, the court ordered..
The court had also directed that discharge from mills and tanneries in Kanpur too should not be dropped into the without getting it treated.