Ganga at Har-Ki-Pauri to go dry for ten days

Hardwar, Sep 18 (UNI) Partly conceding to the demand of the Ganga Sabha and the businessmen of the city not to close the upper Ganga canal after Dussehra, the irrigation department has decided to curtail the duration of the proposed closure of the canal for annual cleaning after Dussehra from three weeks to ten days.

The closure of the canal necessitates the closure of Ganga at Har-Ki-Pauri and diverting its stream into Neel Dhara at Bhagirath Bindu, about one km from Har-Ki-Pauri.

The irrigation department has also assured the priests and businessmen that an uninterrupted flow of a minimum level of water will be maintained at Har-Ki-Pauri for performing the rituals even after the closure of Ganga from October one.

However, the department has turned down the demand of the agitating priet and businessmen not to close the canal just after Dussehra when thousands of pilgrims visit the city during the yatra season.

The executive engineer of the irrigation department, Navneet Kumar told a delegation of the priests and the businessmen last evening that the irrigation requirements in Hardwar district of Uttaranchal and the western and the central regions of Uttar Pradesh were minimum at this time and therefore, the closure of the canal could not be postponed till after Diwali when the irrigation requirements of the farmers would increase due to the onset of the sowing season of Rabi crops.

UNI XC MIR KP1733