The consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya concluded in a grand style on Monday. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath is learnt to have personally lauded the efforts of the district administration in pulling off a “once-in-a-lifetime” event in the country’s history. However, the job of the district authorities in Ayodhya is far from over.
Although the focus now will shift to smoothly facilitate the inflow of pilgrims expected to rise exponentially in the coming days, one of the concerns with which the local bodies, do not want to take any chances, is the purity of river Saryu, on whose banks the temple is located and which holds immense traditional significance in the narrative of Ayodhya. The river, as believed, has been a silent witness to Lord Ram’s life including his exile from and return to Ayodhya. Originating in the lake Mansarovar in the Himalayas, the river flows over 1,000 kilometers before merging into Ganga in Bihar’s Saran district.
Balkar Singh, project director, state project monitoring group, clean Ganga mission, Uttar Pradesh told THE WEEK, “We expect a rise in number of pilgrims coming to Ayodhya and we are on alert. Various departments in the municipality will take initiatives and expedite activities to address the solid waste management and other challenges to keep the river clean.”
As far as pollution in the river is concerned, Singh, who is tasked with cleaning Ganga and its tributaries in UP, adds, “the water in Saryu presently is clean. A 33 MLD STP in Faizabad is under construction which will take care, to a large extent, of the expected rise in sewage generation in Ayodhya and surrounding areas in coming months.”
“The STP was scheduled to complete by December 2024, but in the light of the events and importance of the place we have decided to pre-pone the completion by March 2024 and I am hopeful that we will do it,” Singh said. “We will also be keeping a watch on the development of townships in Ayodhya in near future and take measures accordingly to make sure the wastewater generated from the towns does not go untreated into the river,” he added.
The under construction sewage treatment plant of 33 MLD (Million Litres per Day) in Faizabad STP, 6-kilometers upstream of Ayodhya, is in addition to the existing sewage treatment plants in Ayodhya run by the urban development department. The STP, once commissioned, will prevent 3.3 crore litre of wastewater going into the river per day.
The treatment plant is part of the projects approved in the 38th executive meeting of national mission for clean Ganga held in March 2021, seven months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram temple. The rejuvenation of 5 water bodies (kunds) of Ramayana-era, taken up in the same meeting, was completed in 2023 apart from ‘Ayodhya Arts Project’ that depicts the narration of the Ramayana through murals and wall art. Some of the murals can also be seen in pictures circulated after the Ayodhya consecration ceremony.
