Ganga Mahotsav is a five day event celebrated on the banks of the river Ganges in Varanasi. This festival is celebrated to promote Varanasi as the cultural capital of India and the Ganges as India’s lifeline. Ganga has always been an integral part of India and is considered as a thing of reverence by the Hindus. Ganga gives a sense of belonging to the people of India especially those living near the banks.
Rituals and celebrations
Ganga Mahotsav is organized on Dev Deepavali or the full moon day in the Hindu month of Kartik. It is believed that on the day of Dev Deepavali God descends from Heaven to take a bath in the Ganges. The banks of the river Ganga are lit with earthen lamps or diyas amidst chanting of Vedic hymns. The ghats of Ganga wear a mystic look as hundreds of people walk to take bathe in the wee hours of the holy day. Men and women take a holy dip in the river while chanting mantras and doing surya namaskar or bowing to the sun-God.
The festival also gives importance to dance and music as various cultural programmes promoting Indian dance and music are organized. Some of the exponents of Indian music have performed in this festival. They include stalwarts like Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pundit Chhanulal Misra, Girija Devi, Bal Murli Krishnan, Bhimsen Joshi, Birju Maharaj, Amjad Ali Khan, Vilayat Khan, Zila Khan, Sujat Khan and Zakir Hussein who added zest to this festival. The event is a must for all tourists to get a glimpse of the culture of Varanasi.(DOU 01112007)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Ganga need Pure water
VARANASI: Rising early in the morning and waiting in a long queue near Rajghat seems to be the fate of Damyanti, a housewife who stands for long hours to fetch a bucketful of water. What hurts her even more is the fact that despite living near the banks of the Ganga, the area is slowly becoming water starved.
"We are fully dependent on handpumps, as most of the taps in the houses are running dry," she said, indicating the severe water crisis in the area. "Even, the quality of water supplied by Jal Sansthan raises eyebrows, leaving no other choice but to depend on nearly two dozen handpumps in the area," she added.
A number of residents in the area were also peeved with power roistering that begins in the early morning for two hours (5 am to 7 am), making it difficult for water pumps to work efficiently. "The condition remains the same at the beginning of the summer season and it gets aggravated with increasing intensity of sun light," said Ram Pratap, a septuagenarian resident of Prahlad ghat area.
"Most of the areas of the city, especially ghats (lying in old city areas such as Chowk and Godowlia), have been forced to witness water crisis due to change in power rostering," said AK Jaiswal, general manager, JS. "These areas are not only getting delayed water supply in the morning, but power rostering in the afternoon (3 pm to 5 pm) is also affecting water supply in the evening," he added.
It may be mentioned here that nearly 50 per cent of the water supply (280 million litres per day) is managed through 112 deep tube-wells and 45 per cent (125 MLD) is dependent on the Ganga. In addition, as many as 10 MLD (five per cent) of water is supplied through 1,559 hand pumps that include public as well as private ones.
The gravity of the situation could be also gauged from the fact that as many as 464 handpumps became defunct, requiring reboring last year. Despite making all efforts to ensure water supply through these handpumps, JS could still manage functioning of 425 handpumps that could be rebored.
In fact, a long stretch of ghats- from Rajghat to Trilochan Ghat- are witnessing similar situation and almost two dozen handpumps in the area have already become defunct, indicating difficult times ahead.
Water supply situation
Total water supplied: 280 MLD
Water loss due to leakages: 25 per cent
Water availability per capita per day: 150 litre
Length of water supply pipeline 577 kilometre
Sources of water supply
Ganga: 125 MLD (45 per cent)
Deep tube-wells: 145 MLD (50 per cent)
Handpumps: 10 MLD (5 per cent)
Total tube-wells: 112
Handpumps: 1,559
(As per report of Jal Sansthan, Varanasi)
"We are fully dependent on handpumps, as most of the taps in the houses are running dry," she said, indicating the severe water crisis in the area. "Even, the quality of water supplied by Jal Sansthan raises eyebrows, leaving no other choice but to depend on nearly two dozen handpumps in the area," she added.
A number of residents in the area were also peeved with power roistering that begins in the early morning for two hours (5 am to 7 am), making it difficult for water pumps to work efficiently. "The condition remains the same at the beginning of the summer season and it gets aggravated with increasing intensity of sun light," said Ram Pratap, a septuagenarian resident of Prahlad ghat area.
"Most of the areas of the city, especially ghats (lying in old city areas such as Chowk and Godowlia), have been forced to witness water crisis due to change in power rostering," said AK Jaiswal, general manager, JS. "These areas are not only getting delayed water supply in the morning, but power rostering in the afternoon (3 pm to 5 pm) is also affecting water supply in the evening," he added.
It may be mentioned here that nearly 50 per cent of the water supply (280 million litres per day) is managed through 112 deep tube-wells and 45 per cent (125 MLD) is dependent on the Ganga. In addition, as many as 10 MLD (five per cent) of water is supplied through 1,559 hand pumps that include public as well as private ones.
The gravity of the situation could be also gauged from the fact that as many as 464 handpumps became defunct, requiring reboring last year. Despite making all efforts to ensure water supply through these handpumps, JS could still manage functioning of 425 handpumps that could be rebored.
In fact, a long stretch of ghats- from Rajghat to Trilochan Ghat- are witnessing similar situation and almost two dozen handpumps in the area have already become defunct, indicating difficult times ahead.
Water supply situation
Total water supplied: 280 MLD
Water loss due to leakages: 25 per cent
Water availability per capita per day: 150 litre
Length of water supply pipeline 577 kilometre
Sources of water supply
Ganga: 125 MLD (45 per cent)
Deep tube-wells: 145 MLD (50 per cent)
Handpumps: 10 MLD (5 per cent)
Total tube-wells: 112
Handpumps: 1,559
(As per report of Jal Sansthan, Varanasi)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)