The 50-day expedition that started from Haridwar on April 14, will end at Farakka in West Bengal on June 6, covering a distance of 1,700 km. “It was an ambitious adventure

expedition for us in the beginning. But the plight of the river provoked us to make it a full-fledged mission to save the river from pollution,” said Major Ajay Garg from Golden Key Division of the Indian Army (Dehradun).

Moved by the plight of the river, the Army team is now holding special sessions for locals residing on the riverbank to create awareness for saving the river. The group, which reached Varanasi on Saturday, will leave for their onward journey on Monday and their next stop will be Saidpur (Ghazipur). “When we started our journey from Haridwar, the water was crystal clear. As the expedition progressed, we saw increase in the pollution level of the river. Be it at Bijnore, Fatehgarh, Kanpur and Allahabad, unchecked flow of sewage, polythene, corpses and human waste were everywhere to be seen,” said Major Garg.

“The worst experience awaited us at Kanpur, where effluents, especially industrial, rule the roost,” he added.

The Gangetic Dolphin, which serves as a natural indicator of tolerable limits of pollution in a free-flowing water body, could only be spotted at Narora, Dalmau and Chunar (Mirzapur) during their hitherto 800-km journey, the officer said.

“During the course of our journey, which has reached its mid-point in Varanasi, many a times we had to carry the bouts on shoulders owing to insufficient navigable water. The most glaring incidence of this phenomenon was seen at Allahabad, where we somehow managed to row due to the Yamuna, which meets the Ganga at the Triveni Sangam — the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati,” said Major Garg. The team is holding interactive sessions in cities and towns situated on the banks of the river, to make people aware about the ill-effects of pollution on the river, which is worshipped by Hindus all over the country.