A viral video shows crystal-clear water in the Ganga River at Haridwar. This followed a massive cleanup drive where workers removed 150 metric tonnes of waste. While many people praised the effort, some users noted the clear water is in a concrete canal, not the natural main river bed.

A video showing unusually clear Ganga water in Haridwar has gone viral, drawing attention to the river's changing appearance and sparking fresh conversations about pollution.

A video is going viral on social media, claiming to show crystal-clear water in the Ganga River in Haridwar. The video comes following a massive cleanup drive of one of the most sacred rivers in India ahead of the 'Ardh Kumbh'. According to reports, sanitation workers and volunteers removed nearly 150 metric tonnes of waste from the river from a 10-kilometre stretch.

Reportedly, a canal was shut down for about 20 days, exposing heaps of waste including silt, plastic, clothes, and ritual waste, on the riverbed at key ghats like Har ki Pauri. Several people came forward to clean the trash. When the water resumed, stunning visuals from the upstream section near Haridwar emerged, showing clear and sparkling water.

In the video, stone tiles on a stretch of the river can be seen beneath the clear water. The visuals have renewed calls for cleaner surroundings, drawing attention to persistent pollution downstream and in rivers such as the Yamuna, where similar clean-up efforts are also underway. The clip has gone viral on social media, gaining thousands of views and hundreds of comments.

"That is stunning. Well done to the authorities. I hope they stop littering it again," a social media user commented.

"Let's see how long indians let it stay this way without polluting it.." a person wrote.

"People need to stop throwing their old clothes in the river after taking snan.....please use a dustbin! We need to stop treating our rivers as dumping ground!" another said.

One user pointed out, "This is the concrete-lined canal channel through Haridwar (Upper Ganga Canal system), not the natural free-flowing main river bed."

A user said, "The issue isn't about clear water. Rivers pick up sediments along the way; that is part of the natural process. Brown muddy water isn't inherently bad. It's all the chemicals and sewage released into them."