Ganga runs dry, drifts miles away from ghats in Kanpur

Kanpur: Ganga has drifted away from the ghats so much that one has to walk miles from the ghats to reach the middle of the stream and complete religious rituals.
On Tuesday, when devotees reached ghats to take a plunge on the occasion of Ganga Dusshera they were left disappointed. They had to look for water to take a dip in Ganga.
At Sarsiyya ghat there was no water and at Masscare ghat situation was worst.Here after walking down several miles a narrow stream of Ganga was seen flowing.
According to the experts the situation is alarming.
They stated that though the river shrinks in the summer season (lean period) every year and this was nothing new but this year the situation is worse.
The experts stated that the construction of the barrage has affected the flow of the river and it shrunk it. The impact is that the river has gone away from the city ghats.
Rakesh Jaiswal of Eco Friends said that the condition of Ganga has passed from bad to worse this year. There is no water on the ghats except Parmat ghat."
The barrage had been made to bring water close to ghats but every year the holy river is going further away.
The monsoon recharges the rivers but the past two seasons of weak monsoon has impacted the Ganga.
Ramji Tripathi of Ganga Bachao Aandolan said, "We demand that Ganga should be set free and only then Nirmal Ganga and Aviral Ganga could be achieved. The dams and barrages have caused harm to the holy river. The river has dried up downstream."
Pappu Nishad, a diver at Ganga barrage stated that the river has shrunk so badly that sand is visible in the downstream immediately after the barrage gates.