Ganga at 67.18 m in Varanasi; Boat Ban Holds as Level Keeps Rising

The Central Water Commission recorded the Ganga at Varanasi at 67.18 metres at 8 am on Monday, 28 September, rising at about 60 mm an hour and still below the 70.26 m warning and 71.26 m danger marks, while the district administration kept the boat-operation ban in force and NDRF and water police patrolled ghats for Pitru Paksha crowds.

At those levels the river sits roughly four metres under the danger mark. Warning is pegged at 70.26 m and danger at 71.26 m. The Monday morning reading, paired with a rise near 60 mm per hour, kept civic and disaster teams watching the gauge rather than declaring a flood emergency. The historical record high often cited for Varanasi is 73.901 m on 9 September 1978, well above Monday's mark.

The climb did not begin on Monday alone. The river had started rising from Saturday evening. Between 8 am Saturday and 8 am Sunday the gauge moved up about 90 cm to 66.16 m, then by 6 pm Sunday another 28 cm to 66.44 m, with later spells near 3 cm an hour before the Monday 67.18 m figure. That Sat-to-Mon arc is why boat bans and ghat patrols were already in place when Pitru Paksha crowds thickened along the riverfront.

District administration directions have kept boat operations suspended till further orders. NDRF teams and water police are patrolling ghats to manage devotees during the shraadh period, when families gather for rituals near the waterline. With boats tied up, movement on the river itself is shut; the safety worry is slips, crowding on lower steps, and the rising edge of the channel.

Where aarti and cremation work continue, activity has shifted toward upper terraces and approach lanes at major burning ghats after earlier flood silt, keeping ritual work above the wetter lower courses. That is a practical adjustment during a rising spell, not a claim that the river has crossed warning.

For residents and pilgrims, a 67.18 m reading with a 60 mm hourly rise is a watch-and-wait number. It is high enough to justify the boat ban and rescue presence, and still far enough below 70.26 m that the city is not in a declared danger-mark situation. Gauge updates through the day will decide whether the climb slows or keeps pressing toward warning.

Pitru Paksha footfall makes the patrol piece as important as the centimetres. Crowds on wet stone, tied boats, and a river that is still rising create a different risk profile from a dry-season evening aarti. NDRF and water police on the upper terraces are the administration's visible answer while the ban holds.

Until the gauge turns down or the administration lifts the order, the picture on the riverfront stays the same: a rising Ganga at 67.18 m, still below the warning mark, boats tied up, and rescue teams walking the ghats to keep devotees safe.