Now Reading: Ganga floods submerge all 84 Varanasi ghats, disrupt cremations
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Ganga floods submerge all 84 Varanasi ghats, disrupt cremations
Rising water levels in the Ganga have submerged all 84 ghats in Varanasi, including the Manikarnika and Harishchandra cremation ghats. Around 5,000 shops have shut or relocated, and 3,000 boats are grounded…
Rising water levels in the Ganga have submerged all 84 ghats in Varanasi, including the Manikarnika and Harishchandra cremation ghats. Around 5,000 shops have shut or relocated, and 3,000 boats are grounded as operations were suspended since August 10. More than 100 temples along the ghats are partially submerged, and several houses near the river are affected.
The flooding has sharply reduced cremation space at Harishchandra Ghat, where normally over 50 bodies can be cremated simultaneously. Now only eight to 10 pyres can operate, with families waiting three to four hours. Wet firewood has slowed cremations, some taking up to five hours, and some pyres are being set up on rooftops and in narrow lanes.
The Central Water Commission recorded the Ganga at 68.22 metres at Rajghat on Tuesday, 2.04 metres below the warning level of 70.262 metres. Despite being under the warning mark, the flood has hit daily-wage earners, boatmen, and small traders who depend on the riverfront economy. Boat operations will resume only after water levels fall and authorities declare conditions safe.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The annual monsoon surge of the Ganga in Varanasi typically peaks in August-September, but this year's early and sustained rise has hit the riverfront economy at its busiest pilgrimage season. The Dom community, which holds a customary monopoly over cremation rights at the two main burning ghats, faces an immediate loss of income as each delayed pyre means fewer daily rites. Over 3,000 boat families, many of whom live on or near the river, have no alternative employment during the suspension. The Uttar Pradesh irrigation department and district administration will monitor water levels at the Rajghat gauge, operations resume only when the level falls below 68 metres for 48 consecutive hours, a threshold that may take another week if current recession trends hold.
Meanwhile, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has not announced any relief package for affected traders or boatmen, raising questions about how daily-wage earners will bridge the income gap during the extended disruption.
Source: nationalheraldindia.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
