Source: Associated Press
By EMILY SCHMALL
PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — Thousands of portable toilets line roads constantly swept clean, drinking water flows from newly installed taps, electric substations power a massive tent city and billboards encourage a “clean Kumbh,” an extension of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s huge push to improve sanitation across the country.
But the skies over the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India where millions of Hindu priests and pilgrims have come to wash away their sins at the ancient Kumbh Mela festival are thick with toxic dust, a sign that government officials are struggling to grapple with the country’s worsening air pollution.
The hazardous air may also hinder the government’s drive to make the Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, a global tourism event.
Four sites in India rotate every three years hosting the Kumbh, the world’s largest pilgrimage. The river baths, prayer, meditation and yoga sessions and other religious rituals are organized by sadhus, Hinduism’s holy men, and financially supported with public funds.
Categories: Asia, Hinduism, India, The Muslim Times
with so many sins being washed off, no wonder the air (and water) is toxic.