Less water in Ganga, plan to run cruise between Varanasi-Prayagraj put on hold, survey team returned empty handed

News India Live, Digital Desk: The ambitious plan to connect two religiously and tourist important cities, Varanasi and Prayagraj, through the Ganga with cruise and cargo ships has suffered a major setback. The survey conducted by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to check the feasibility of this waterway has failed miserably. The survey team had to return midway due to low water even before reaching Prayagraj.

Why did the survey fail?

IWAI planned to operate large cruise liners and cargo ships between Varanasi and Prayagraj. For this, it is mandatory to have a depth of at least three meters of water in the river. But when the survey team went out to take stock of the waterway, the depth of water was found to be less than one and a half meters at many places in the Ganga from Sirsa near Prayagraj to Sangam.

Lack of water in the river, raised sand dunes (char) at many places and division of the river into many streams became the main reasons for the failure of this survey. Due to these obstacles the team could not take their boat further and had to return leaving the survey incomplete.

Experts said – silt and pollution are the real reasons

Ganga affairs expert and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) professor B.D. According to Tripathi, the real root of this problem is the increasing silt and pollution in the river. He said that due to the continuously increasing silt in the Ganga, both its depth and water carrying capacity have reduced. In such a situation, dredging (removing silt from the river bed) is also not a permanent solution, because it is very expensive and its effect also does not last for a long time. Unless the root causes of siltation and pollution in the river are eliminated, such schemes cannot take off.

What do the officers say?

IWAI Regional Director (Noida) L. Of. Rajak has confirmed that the survey team had to return due to less water in Prayagraj. He said that at present the cruise is being operated successfully from Kolkata to Varanasi. Cruise service to Prayagraj can be started only when the water level in Ganga rises to a satisfactory level.

At present this dream project has been put on hold. Now tourists and businessmen may have to wait a long time for the opening of this waterway, until the water level in Mother Ganga becomes favorable for this plan.