The every-six-years big dip in the Ganges took place last week in Allahabad India, but not before a lot of the holy men threatened to boycott the event to draw the world’s attention to ridiculous levels of pollution. Some said they would commit suicide by drowning if the government didn’t take steps to address the problem.
The Week magazine reported that the river has been growing increasingly contaminated. It was always pretty nasty since human waste and burning corpses routinely made their way into the waters, but now it’s even worse because of industrial waste increases. Local officials started pumping fresh water from elsewhere into the river above Allahabad, acknowledging that “some pollutants are 1,000 times the acceptable amount.” Yikes. If cleansing your sins could kill you in the process, I think I’d just stick with being bogged down with the sins. At least you’d still have your health…
