The water treatment plant was installed at Ramkund on the banks of
Godavari during the last Simhastha Kumbh mela in 2003-04 to help clean
the water of pollutants. The machine now gathers dust at the filtration
plant on Dindori Road and civic officials of the NMC’s mechanical
department say that there are no plans to restart it.

The
treatment plant was installed taking into consideration the amount of
puja material and other things that would be thrown into the river
during Kumbh, but the unit was packed and transported to the NMC’s
filtration plant at Dindori Road after a couple of years.

Now
with an NGO dragging the NMC to court over river pollution, the civic
body has filed an affidavit on what it would do to clean the river. But
officials are not sure if they would use the treatment plant, despite
the fact that the ensuing Kumbh mela would demand extra effort to keep
the river clean.

When contacted, municipal commissioner Sanjay
Khandare said, “We will have to judge the feasibility. We are not ruling
out the option of using it during the Kumbh. We will decide as per the
requirement.”

An engineer of the NMC’s mechanical department
said that the machinery had been dismantled and shifted to the
filtration plant on Dindori Road so that the parts would be safe. “The
unit was used for a couple of years after installation but it was not
effective. It used to get jammed,” he said.

A senior engineer
of the mechanical department added that people throw rice, earthen or
flour-based lamps, flowers and other items in the river that chokes up
the pipes and the machine and the pipes had to be cleaned frequently.

It may be recalled that about six months ago, a central government agency – the Tourism Finance Corporation of India
– had submitted a survey report revealing that the water in Godavari
was not only unfit for drinking but also unfit for bathing.
Subsequently, in February the Bombay High Court, acting on a PIL filed
by an NGO, the Godavari Gatarikaran Virodhi Manch, had ordered the NMC
to put up warning boards about the river being polluted.