Reports mention that over 500 million bathers have graced the Maha Kumbh since its commencement, and as of yet, not a whisper of disease spread appears anywhere on the hills of the Maha Kumbh. This is more than the total population put together of America and Russia. The country’s Science Minister has attributed this to being a miracle of nuclear technology. Union Science Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said “More than 50 crore devotees have already come to Maha Kumbh, and yet there are no signs of any problems related to hygiene or a threat to an epidemic.” On Sunday, he bathed at Sangam.
The Union Minister added that this is indeed a big deal, and this unique achievement has been due to the nuclear technology-based sewage treatment plants. Established by the Bhabha Atomic Research Center at Mumbai and the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, both institutes are under the Department of Atomic Energy. Let it be said that a sewage treatment plant using hgSBR technology, or hybrid granular sequencing batch reactor technology, has been set up at the Maha Kumbh. These plants use microorganisms to treat dirty water and are commonly called fecal sludge treatment plants. Development and research on this technology have been credited to Dr. Venkat Nancharaya in the Department of Atomic Energy.
The plants on the banks of the Ganga can treat the 1.5 lakh liters of sewage generated daily at the Maha Kumbh site. Another specialty of the technology is that it needs less land, less infrastructure, and lower operational costs. In these technologies, the operational costs can be reduced by 30-60 percent.
One and a Half Lakh Toilets Made for the Fair Site
With the arrival of crores of persons to the Maha Kumbh, a concomitant prevalence of open defecation and dirty water due to sanitation caused cholera and diarrhea. Still, this year, the Uttar Pradesh government constructed 150,000 toilets at the fair. Eleven permanent sewage treatment plants and three temporary plants have been set up at the fair site. Clean drinking water is ensured through more than 200 machines.
