7,000 Tonnes Of Garbage Left In Haridwar After Kanwar Yatra (Img: X)
New Delhi: The conclusion of the Kanwar Yatra has brought a massive cleanliness challenge for the Haridwar administration. After millions of devotees visited the holy city to collect Ganga water, municipal workers are now engaged in a large-scale cleanup operation to clear thousands of tonnes of waste scattered across ghats, parking areas and temporary camps.
According to officials, around 7,000 metric tonnes of garbage has been collected after the yatra, including discarded clothes, plastic bottles, food waste, polythene bags and other items left behind by pilgrims.
The Haridwar Municipal Corporation launched an intensive sanitation drive after the pilgrimage ended. More than 1,000 sanitation workers worked through the night to remove waste from important areas, including several Ganga ghats.
Officials said heavy machinery and garbage vehicles were deployed as the amount of waste was far higher than the city’s routine collection capacity. More than 89 large trucks were used to transport the collected garbage out of the city.
The Kanwar Yatra witnessed a huge turnout this year, with officials estimating that around 4.8 crore devotees participated in the pilgrimage.During the final days of the yatra alone, lakhs of devotees arrived in Haridwar, creating additional pressure on civic infrastructure.
Haridwar Municipal Commissioner Nandan Kumar said that the scale of the pilgrimage has increased significantly in recent years, with large crowds, vehicles and temporary camps adding to the waste management challenge.
Several prominent locations, including Subhash Ghat, Nai Ghat, Alaknanda Ghat and Vishnu Ghat, have been cleaned as part of the drive. Officials said around 95 per cent of cleaning work at these locations has been completed.
The Haridwar Municipal Corporation normally manages around 250 tonnes of garbage daily, but the post-Kanwar cleanup required handling several times that amount within a short period.
The administration has increased monitoring and sanitation efforts to ensure that the city returns to normal after one of the largest annual religious gatherings in North India.
As the Kanwar Yatra concludes every year with millions of devotees returning home, waste management remains one of the biggest challenges for cities hosting large-scale pilgrimages.
