Cremation shifted to lanes and roads, flood situation grim in Varanasi

Almost all the ghats along the Ganga are submerged in the water as the river is flowing at 72.56 meter which is 1.30 meter above the danger mark. It is since last two weeks when Ganga and its tributary Varuna have created havoc in the Temple city

Arnima Dwivedi
Published on: 24 Aug 2016 8:13 AM GMT
Cremation shifted to lanes and roads, flood situation grim in Varanasi
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Varanasi

Varanasi: The people from all parts of the state come to the mythological city of Varanasi to perform last rites of their dear ones at Harsihchandra and Manikarnika ghats on the banks of holy river Ganga but the floods have forced them to shift cremation of dead bodies to roads,lanes and even roofs of the houses.

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Almost all the ghats along the Ganga are submerged in the water as the river is flowing at 72.56 meter which is 1.30 meter above the danger mark. It is since last two weeks when Ganga and its tributary Varuna have created havoc in the Temple city. Besides cremation ghats, other ghats like Dhashvamedh and Assi are also under water.Also Read: 17 killed, several others injured in Madhya Pradesh floods

Hundreds of country boats have been plied in the city while personnel of flood division of PAC, teams of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and civil police were engaged in round the clock rescue and relief operations. The educational institutions of the city have already been closed down on the order of district administration for three days.

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The relief operations are in place also keeping in view the rising trend of the river in the coming week,” Nitin Gokarn, the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi told ‘newstrack.com‘. He said that five lakh cusec water had been released from Matatila dam in Lalitpur district which will raise the water level of the holy river in its course of Varanasi in coming week.

A must read: Flood situation worsens in Allahabad, Army put on alert

More photos of floods in the Temple city, Varanasi:

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So much so that the world-famous Ganga Aarti' has also been shifted to higher plains as the customary places on the banks have water everywhere. The waters have already entered many low-lying residential colonies of the city even as the relief and rescue operations are being taken place in full swing.

Arnima Dwivedi

Arnima Dwivedi

A journalist, presently working as a sub-editor with newstrack.com. I love exploring new genres of humans and humanity.

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