Upper Ganga canal closed for cleaning, repairs

Haridwar: On mission clean-up, Uttar Pradesh irrigation department has closed the

upper Ganga

canal, which is likely to impact irrigation in western part of Uttarakhand and plunge Har ki Pauri into water crisis for the next 20 days.

Whenever the upper canal is closed, which is an annual affair, pilgrims move to Rishikesh to perform rituals and take a dip in the Ganga.

Meanwhile, a long queue of vehicles could be seen on Rishikesh-Dehradun highway as tourists from Delhi and NCR made a beeline for Rishikesh on Saturday, giving traffic police a tough time.

SDO, upper Ganga canal, Shiv Kumar Kaushik told TOI, "During these 20 days, the canal will be de-silted and other repair works will be carried out.

As far as Har ki Pauri is concerned, we will release sufficient water from Bhimgoda barrage.”

Tirth Purohit Ujjwal Pandit told TOI, “As per the 1916 pact, adequate water should be supplied to Har ki Pauri around this but Uttar Pradesh irrigation department often violates the agreement. We raised the issue with irrigation department and it did nothing about it. Then we asked state government to act and take some measures.”