Uttarakhand: People Make A Scramble To Collect Coins From Ganga Canal After Water Flow Stopped

Every year, the Ganga canal is closed from Dussehra till Diwali eve for cleaning and maintainance of the ghats at Haridwar.

During this time, the entire Ganga canal becomes dry, turning into a tressure trove for poor people

Luck shined on people living near the banks of the Ganga in Uttarakhand's Haridwar as they made a scramble to collect coins from the canal after the irrigation department closed the water flow for cleaning it. Some of them claimed that they also find silver and gold coins and expensive jewellery when lucky. 

"We dive and retrieve money. Sometimes when we're lucky, we get silver and gold. With water gone, our chances to find currency and jewellery have increased," a local told news agency ANI.

Haridwar, Uttarakhand | People collect currency from Ganga water canal after irrigation dept closes water flow to clean it

We dive & retrieve money. Sometimes when we're lucky, we get silver & gold. With water gone,our chances to find currency & jewellery have increased:A local pic.twitter.com/Npk2RG2m2K

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) October 12, 2022

The Ganga is in full flow in Uttarakhand following heavy rains in the state in the past few days. 

Every year, the Ganga canal is closed from Dussehra till Diwali eve for cleaning and maintainance of the ghats at Haridwar. During this time, the entire Ganga canal becomes dry, turning into a tressure trove for poor people who collect coins and other items offered by pilgrims to the Ganga throughout the year.

In Hinduism, Ganga is held as a holy river. Devotees believe that bathing in the pious Ganga can help wash away all sins. Ganga has remained a symbol of religious and spiritual faith, with millions of Hindus visiting Haridwar to cleanse themselves of their sins and offer prayers.

Devotees offer a number of things, including coins, gold and silver tokens to earn the blessing of the Ganga. 

Ganga has become one of the most polluted rivers in the country, but the government is making efforts to clean the holy river. It had launched Namami Gange Programme, an integrated conservation mission, in 2014 to achieve the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of the Ganga.

The project is being carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation and has a budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved 14 projects worth Rs 1145 crore, according to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, reported news agency ANI.

The approved projects pertain to sewerage management, industrial pollution abatement, biodiversity conservation, afforestation, river front development and decentralised wastewater treatment and include eight projects of sewerage management in five main Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.