Varanasi: Caught Between Promises, Pollution and Power Deficit

Varanasi: The Supreme Court's unhappiness -- with the Centre's efforts to restore the glory of the Ganga -- finds resonance with the residents of Varanasi.

"There is no change. It's just as dirty as it was," says Jamna Devi, who sells flowers for a living along the ghaats of the Ganga.

The residents of Varanasi dump 300 million litres a day or mld of waste into the Ganga; the three existing waste treatment plants only cater to about 110 mld. This does not include the 800 tonnes of ashes per day at the two cremation ghats and the effluents from nearly 1000 small scale units which directly find their way into the Ganga. ('Plan to Clean Ganga Will Take 200 Years': Supreme Court Raps Centre)

UK Choudhary, a resident of Varanasi and a former professor of IIT, says, "Unless you go to the right doctor, you will not get the correct diagnosis. Ganga needs to be pure and free-flowing. But finding a solution is only possible when the right intention meets experience."

100 days after the government at the Centre -- led by Varanasi's Member of Parliament Narendra Modi -- came to power, residents of this ancient city are in no rush to assess his performance, though they do have high expectations from him. (100 Days: Varanasi Says Too Early for Narendra Modi Report Card)

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the weavers of Varanasi have been forced to halt work because of continuous load shedding. Electricity supply here is erratic at best and the state faces a shortfall of nearly 1500 megawatts of power per day.

Asrar Ahmed, a weaver, says, "We barely get power for 10 hours in a day and there are no fixed hours for load shedding. It's random."

"We have lost business and even our export orders. No one wants to give us orders since there is no assurance of power supply. They are taking their business elsewhere," says another weaver.

In June, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had promised uninterrupted power supply to Varanasi. That promise seems to be all but forgotten.

Now Varanasi is banking on PM Modi to honour the promises he made when he came to seek votes before the Lok Sabha elections.