‘What fear?’: Hindus bathe in frothy, polluted Indian river
By SHONAL GANGULY and ALTAF QADRI
Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — A vast stretch of one of India’s most sacred rivers, the Yamuna, is covered with toxic foam, caused in part by pollutants discharged from industries ringing New Delhi. Still, hundreds of Hindu devotees stood knee-deep in its frothy, toxic waters on Wednesday, sometimes even immersing themselves for a holy dip to mark the festival of Chhath Puja. The river is among the most polluted in the world but provides more than half of New Delhi’s water. The city’s sewage, farm pesticides from neighboring states and industrial effluents from factory towns flow into the waterway despite laws against polluting.
