New Delhi: Crores of Kanwar yatris left heaps of garbage in Haridwar and now the district administration is racing against time to clear it from the streets.
The municipal corporation of Haridwar has collected over 7,000 metric tonnes of waste from the city, comprising plastic sheets, discarded clothes and other items left by around 4.8 crore Kanwariyas this year.
“Every year a large number of pilgrims visit Haridwar in the month of Shravan. When they left, there was a heavy accumulation of waste around the ghats, market and parking area,” Nandan Kumar, Municipal Commissioner of Haridwar told ThePrint. “Cleaning is our priority. Now we are on a war footing to clean everything.”
Just a few days ago, a video circulating on social media showed bottles containing urine hanging inside women’s changing rooms and piles of garbage in Haridwar.
हरिद्वार में कांवड़ यात्रा संपन्न होने के बाद जब सफाई शुरू हुई तो हर की पैड़ी पर बने चेंजिंग रूम में बहुत सारी पानी की बोतलों के अंदर पेशाब भरा मिला है। सफाईकर्मियों का आरोप है कि कांवड़िए ऐसा करके गए हैं। pic.twitter.com/VYSrEeiuzf
— Sachin Gupta (@Sachingupta) August 12, 2026
The municipal corporation deployed ample staff, including an additional 1,000 personnel, built temporary toilets and deployed vehicles to collect waste from the city. The area around the ghats has also been cleared.
“We were expecting a large number of people, like every year during this month, and we prepared accordingly,” Kumar said. “This time, we also intensified cleanliness drives across the Ganga ghats and market areas of Haridwar.”
Teams remain deployed as a precautionary measure, and the final cleanup will be completed in the next 2-3 days.
The volume of waste is lower this year compared to last year when 4.5 crore kanwariyas showed up.
कांवड़ यात्रा में शामिल सभी लोगों ने साफ सफाई का काफी ख्याल रखा है,
हरिद्वार के हर की पौड़ी में कोई गंदगी नहीं पाई गई, ये वीडियो ai से बनाया गया है।
जीरो सिविक सेंस pic.twitter.com/BGHHI4TJEG
— खुचरेंप (@khuchrep) August 13, 2026
Waste segregation
The corporation is also segregating the waste for the first time for recycling and reuse.
“Many leave behind clothes, so we deployed a dedicated team to collect them separately. These clothes are being dried at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) center for recycling and reuse, an initiative that is being implemented for the first time,” Kumar said.
Municipal personnel were deployed across seven zones during the entire period from 30 July to 11 August, including sanitation inspectors and supervisors.
The district administration had also deployed Swachhata Doots (cleanliness ambassadors) to raise public awareness via megaphones, encouraging people to cooperate with the municipal corporation and not litter. The administration also set up Green Chowkis to handle plastic waste.
“People could exchange plastic items with compostable bags,” Kumar said. “But managing the waste remains a challenge. We will formulate better plans for next year.”
(Edited by Stela Dey)