Prayagraj: BJP president JP Nadda, along with his family, took a holy dip at the Sangam during the ongoing Maha Kumbh on Saturday, February 22.
Along with Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak, Cabinet Ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Nand Gopal Gupta also took a dip at the Triveni Sangam.
Nadda and his family offered prayers to the Sun God and also presented a sari, coconut, flowers and other offerings to the Ganga river, an official statement said.
According to the statement, the BJP president reached Prayagraj airport on Saturday afternoon, where he was welcomed by Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak, UP BJP Chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, Minister Nand Gopal Gupta and Phulpur MP Praveen Patel.
Upon reaching Arail in Mahakumbh Nagar, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomed Nadda and took him to the Sangam by boat. During this time, Nadda and his family also fed grains to the Siberian birds chirping in the Sangam area, it added.
Sangam water has high BOD levels, says govt data
The Ganga water at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, where lakhs of people are taking a holy dip every day during the ongoing Maha Kumbh, is currently unsafe for bathing as it exceeds the prescribed limit for biological oxygen demand (BOD), a key parameter to determine water quality, according to government data.
BOD refers to the amount of oxygen required by aerobic microorganisms to break down organic material in a water body. A higher BOD level indicates more organic content in the water.
River water is considered fit for bathing if the BOD level is less than 3 milligrams per litre.
The Central Pollution Control Board recently told the National Green Tribunal that several locations in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj do not conform to the primary water quality standards for bathing with respect to faecal coliform levels.
However, it said that the river water quality met the bathing criteria in terms of BOD after January 13 “due to freshwater intrusion at upstream locations.”
