A woman offers prayers on the first day of the Ardh Kumbh mela at Sangam in Allahabad on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Allahabad, Jan. 3: The sadhus quivered in the chilly wind and a blanket of fog hung over the bathing ghats as the Ardh Kumbh mela began here at 4.48 this morning.

After a month-long penance, the dip at Sangam — the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati — wasn’t exactly holy for the pilgrims and ascetics here as a row raged over shallow and filthy water.

The turnout, too, appeared bogged in the pollution row. Only 10 lakh trudged to the riverbank for a dip, but authorities had expected eight times the number. The headcount on the first day of Kumbh in February 2001 was 60 lakh.

“The water was inadequate. We were demanding some release from the nearby Narora dam. The water did flow in today but that wasn’t enough. Worse, it was full of dirt,” said Pahari Mahant Ashoke Giri, a member of the Juna akhara.

An irrigation officer said the dam reservoir will be sucked dry if the demand to release 1,500 cusecs is accepted.

The sadhus here have been protesting the growing pollution in the Ganges around Allahabad over the past two months. They say Kanpur leather units — which lie further upstream along the Ganges — refuse to install anti-pollution systems and continue to dump effluents in the river.

An environment ministry report released this week supports the accusation. The survey, conducted in 13 cities along the Ganges, concludes that pollution in the river in Kanpur and Allahabad “hasn’t been controlled adequately”.

Ideally, dissolved oxygen (DO) per litre of water from a river should be above 8 mg, but the ministry’s findings show that the Ganges near Allahabad has only 6.5 mg.

“I suspect the government figures. It (the pollution) is actually much worse in the river,” says Birbhadra Singh, a priest-turned-activist on the Ganga pollution in Varanasi.

While the quibble over figures goes on, the sadhus are on a war path. “We are making a fresh appeal to the state government to release water and make it purer than what it is now. If it doesn’t happen, the sadhus might even go for the worst: suicides on the riverbank,” said Mahant Mahesh Giri at the Sangam Kumbh mela camp.

Before the Ardh Kumbh mela began today, security personnel had scanned the area amid fears of terrorist strikes at places of religious importance in Uttar Pradesh.

The first royal bathing (shahi snan) is scheduled for January 14-15 (Makar Sankranti), when Naga ascetics of the Mahanirvana akhara will lead the holy-dip procession.