SANGAM (PRAYAGRAJ): Their boat sunk in a whirlpool, they endured dengue, skipped functions and festivals, got accustomed to motion sickness, made scuba dives to fix 350mm pipes weighing 80kg amid vigorous currents of the Ganga, and operated non-stop for 80 days with four dredgers weighing 20-40 tons to execute an engineering marvel ahead of Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.The herculean endeavour was to reclaim 26 hectares area, including two hectares for the ‘Sangam Nose’, the most important piece of land at Triveni where the Ganga and the Yamuna meet, to provide additional circulatory area to the devotees interested in taking a dip into the holy waters.
By the dint of sheer will power of around 250 skilled dredgers and the efforts of over 16,000 labourers, the mela administration and the irrigation department create 2 hectares of additional space at the nose which would be enough to hold at least 2 lakh more devotees at a time as compared to 2019.
Following a report by IIT-Guwahati, officials found it necessary to streamline the Ganga which was flowing in three channels from Shastri bridge. Initially, the Kumbh Mela office attempted to streamline the river with their available resources, but considering the difficulty level, the task was handed over to the irrigation department.
The complexity of the task can be gauged from the fact that within 83 days, the dredgers combed out around seven lakh cubic metres of sand from Ganga stream, which can fill 187 Olympic-sized swimming pools (25m wide, 50m long and 3m deep). The department has also created nine ghats for Maha Kumbh.
“This is my first experience of dredging in the volatile Ganga. Prior to this, I have worked in the steady Ghaghara river for three years,” says Abhishek Shukla of Kanpur, a dredge master, who holds a diploma in mechanical engineering.
Abhishek worked daily in eight-hour shifts to extract sand from the bottom of the Ganga with his 20-ton dredger imported from the United States.
“All our endeavour and sacrifices are for Maa Ganga. This is also a kind of penance (‘tapasya’). We were running against time and pushing our physical and psychological limits for this project. Some even broke down during this ‘tapasya’ but joined again to streamline the river so that millions can take dip in the holy Ganga during Maha Kumbh,” says Abhishek.
Like Abhishek, other dredger masters like Shiv Kumar Nishad, Raju Patel, Manjit Verma, Satya, Satyendra and Pitamber also worked tirelessly on the project which kickstarted way before Oct 15 for them.
After getting the project, the irrigation department swung into action and brought three dredgers by road from Bahraich. Each dredger was dismantled and loaded on a flatbed trailer truck. It took four trucks and five days to transport one dredger, which was reassembled on the banks of the Ganga.
Nearly 75 labourers, one crane of 120-ton capacity and three hydra cranes of 14-ton capacity each, besides a battery of back-hoe excavators were deployed to float the dredgers one-by-one in the Ganga.
“It took us a team of 22 men per dredger per shift (daily three shifts) to operate it continuously for 22 hours for more than 80 days to streamline Ganga and dredge out sand to build embankments along a 1,400m long area. Around 5,000 manpower per dredger was used in the project,” said Upendra Singh, chief engineer of central equipment and stores procurement organisation, which is the mechanical wing of the irrigation department.
“We had to search for skilled dredger operators and labourers, who had nerves of steel and knew to float and swim in the strong currents of the Ganga. In mid-Oct, the flow of Ganga water was over 4.5 kmph. Since there is a steep slope after Shastri bridge, the river gathers speed until it reaches Sangam point where it merges with Yamuna, which is nine metres deep,” Upendra added.
“The depth reduces the speed. Almost every day, our labourers faced near-death incidents while refitting huge pipes under the river, which either used to get bent due to strong current or got choked by debris and human remains, as a cremation ground is located nearby. At one point, one of our boats even sank during a dredging operation due to a strong whirlpool,” he said.
“Several labourers gave up due to the level of risk and physical demand that the project required. They left the project, but we brought them back as we needed their experience, knowledge and skill. A total of 16,000 labourers, especially those who lived along the Ganga in Prayagraj, were roped in for the project,” said Upendra.
Principal secretary, irrigation and water resources, Anil Garg said, “The feat is unparalleled. The irrigation department has not only reclaimed an area along the Ganga, which is equal to around 1,000 tennis courts, but has also developed a Sangam Nose big enough to accommodate two lakh pilgrims at a time for holy dip.”
Not a single life has been lost in the project.
“Now, I wish to take a holy dip with my family and friends on the main bathing day to pay respect to Maa Ganga,” adds Abhishek, the dredger master of IMS 80-12 imported from New Richmond of Wisconsin province of the United States.