Digvijaya Singh says Sangam water could have been kept clean by adding chemicals

Indore: The water of Sangam, the site of the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, could have been kept clean by periodically using chemicals, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh suggested on Monday.

Citing laboratory test reports, he maintained the water quality at Sangam, the confluence of sacred rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati where crores of devotees have taken a holy dip since January 13, does not meet the required standards of purity.

The matter has now been taken up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the former Madhya Pradesh CM said while talking to reporters in Indore.

"During Maha Kumbh, the water of Sangam could have been cleaned periodically by adding certain chemicals. Why was it not cleaned when a budget of Rs 7,500 crore has been allocated for Maha Kumbh? Attention should have been paid to maintaining the purity of Sangam water," he asserted.

On Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's tweet of last Friday that he had been allotted a "broken" seat in an Air India flight from Bhopal to New Delhi, Singh remarked, "Coincidentally, I was on the same flight, but I was given a good seat." However, he acknowledged the private airline made a "mistake" by allotting the seat to Chouhan.

"As per protocol, Union ministers are allocated seats in the first row of the aircraft. Therefore, Air India should have assigned Chouhan a seat in that row," he opined.

Taking a dig at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) over the ongoing Global Investors Summit (GIS) in Bhopal, Singh demanded transparency and sought details of all such events organised in the past.

The BJP government should come out with full account of all GISs held in Madhya Pradesh since 2004 and disclose the actual investments received and the number of jobs created from such events, the Congress veteran asserted.