Ganga Hits 68.25 m in Varanasi; Sheetla Mata Temple Takes Water

The Central Water Commission recorded the Ganga at Varanasi at 68.25 metres at noon on Tuesday, 29 September, rising at about three centimetres an hour. Water has entered the Sheetla Mata temple precinct, the Dashashwamedh water police post is wet to the wall again, rope barricades have gone up at Namo Ghat, and the boat-operation ban remains in force with NDRF and water police on alert.

Tuesday's noon mark sits more than a metre above the 67.18 m reading reported for Monday morning. Warning for Varanasi is pegged at 70.26 m and danger at 71.26 m, so the river is still below those thresholds, but the climb of roughly three centimetres an hour is enough for lower ghat steps and temple approaches to go under again.

District administration directions have kept boat operations suspended. Officials have told NDRF teams and water police to stay in alert mode along the riverfront. At Namo Ghat, rope barricades were put up to keep people away from deeper water as the edge rose. The practical message for devotees and residents is simple: stay on upper terraces and do not push down toward the wetter courses for sightseeing.

Dashashwamedh had seen the water police post dry out when the earlier rise eased. Tuesday's climb put water back against the wall of that post, a visible marker that the lower riverfront is wet again. Sheetla Mata temple taking water has disrupted darshan and worship in the immediate precinct, according to riverfront priests who watch the gauge as closely as the administration does.

Priest Dinesh Maharaj at Dashashwamedh said the Ganga had dropped enough last week for the Sheetla temple courtyard to clear and for ghat cleaning to resume, but that about nine feet of water had returned over the past three days after Kajri Teej. He linked the latest climb to heavy rain across Uttar Pradesh and the hills after the Arnab weather system. Belief among some local priests is that levels often ease after Amavasya in Pitru Paksha; that remains a traditional expectation, not a forecast.

Pitru Paksha crowds still move along the ghats for shraadh. With boats tied up and lower steps underwater at several points, the safety risk is crowding on wet stone and people stepping too far toward the current. Water police and NDRF patrols are the visible answer while the ban holds.

For shopkeepers and purohits who work the lower lanes, another wet spell means shifting stock and ritual work uphill again. Tourism boat rides stay shut until the administration lifts the order. Gauge updates through the afternoon and evening will show whether the three-centimetre hourly rise slows or keeps pressing toward the warning mark.

Readers who followed Monday's 67.18 m report will recognise the same boat ban and rescue presence. What is new on Tuesday is the 68.25 m noon figure, the Sheetla Mata flooding, water back at the Dashashwamedh police wall, and rope barricades at Namo Ghat. Until the gauge turns down, the riverfront picture is a rising Ganga still below warning, boats idle, and rescue teams watching the steps.