Nashik: The Ramkund,the holy bathing spot of Kumbh Bathing on the Godavari river in Maharashtra, has gone dry for the first time in 130 years of History, according to one of the top official, The Bombay High Court has heared a petition against IPL matches due to drought prevailing condition in the state on Thursday.
The kumbh Bathing festival will be attended by thousands of people in Nashik on Gudi Padwa today to mark a new year according to the Hindu calendar, but yes this time ritual holy dip will be a matter of obstacle.
“Thousands of pilgrims expected to turn up at Ramkund will not be able to take the holy dip, at least till July-end,” Nashik Municipal Corporation’s Deputy Mayor Gurmeet Bagga told to the media.
A Committe comprising of priests, the Purohit Sangh, has appealed to the municipal corporations to arrange water to help priests and devotees perform basic religious rituals on Friday.
They have suggested alternate options to water arrangements from some nearby reservoir to fill the Ramkund enough just to enable the pilgrims to dip basic rituals in water.
Now the cemented Ramkund has now become playground for the children who play cricket and football there, he further added.
The municipal corporations seems left with no option to replenish the water in the holy reservoir.
According to the sources, now they are considering borewalls as a option on the river banks to replenish the holy spot which is main centre of Kumbh Mela in Nashiki.
At present, according to Mr Bagga said, the corporation is supplying around 100 litres a person each day to the peoples of Nashik but sooner it will be reduced because of acute water scarcity.
“Our target is to conserve water till the third week of July when heavy rains start and continue till mid-August to replenish the water bodies,” the deputy mayor said.
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court has said that water crisis in the state is a serious matter and “political will” was needed to resolve it.
It was a petition against holding matches in the drought-hit state because cricket grounds need lakhs of litres of water to prepare the pitches.
However, the court has cleared it that the Saturday’s IPL game will not be cancelled, but the case will continue next week.
In biting criticism, the judges said to India’s cricket board the BCCI, “It is a question of priority – a game or people… Are you going to maintain gardens and stadiums when people are dying? Is this what you are saying?”
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