Bihar: Lockdown significantly improves water quality of Ganga

Amid the nation-wide 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the water quality of Ganga river in Patna has seemingly improved. There were also signs of improved air quality.

Patna (Bihar): As the state has gone under lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, the Ganga river has seen significant improvement as there is a reduction in the dumping of industrial waste into it.

India has been placed under a three-week lockdown since March 24th. Due to the lockdown, people have been facing hardships on several fronts including, social as well as economical. But, there are some silver linings too.

River Ganga, which could not be cleaned despite spending crores of rupees is now cleaner than ever.

People in the capital were taken aback as they had never seen the water of the Ganga river so clean before.

After the lockdown was imposed people are staying indoors to protect themselves from the virus. Schools, colleges, shopping mall as well as industries are being shut to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Ganga has become cleaner since the lockdown came into effect. Hundreds of people used to take a holy dip here. No waste or garbage is being secretly dumped. As factories are shut there is no discharge of industrial waste into the river.

Not only this but due to the lockdown air quality has also improved significantly.

Guddu Baba, an RTI activist, and philanthropist who runs the Ganga cleanliness campaign said that the untreated water from the sewage that goes into the Ganges river is 74 per cent. The government has not stopped it yet. He has demanded the government to stop the dirty sewage water from going into the Gange river.