Visitors bathe in the Godavari, and a sanitation worker cleans the steps at Pushkar Ghat in Rajamahendravaram.
Karuna Kumari
Pushkar Ghat, on the banks of the Godavari in Rajamahendravaram district of Andhra Pradesh, draws people throughout the year. Some come to bathe, pray and perform religious rituals, while others visit to enjoy the river views or sit by its banks for a while.
Around 5 am, while the city is still quiet and not yet fully awake, Devi, 48, a sanitation worker at the ghat, is already cleaning the steps leading down to the river. A resident of Rajamahendravaram, she took the job after her husband died and has done it for nearly 20 years. Over the years, she has watched the ghat change from what she remembers as an isuka ghattu, a sandy stretch beside the river, into a busy public space.
Her day follows the flow of visitors. She works until about 10.30 am, returns at 2 pm and continues until 5.30 pm. Even on Sundays, enough work keeps her busy for half the day. By the time she begins her first shift, visitors are already arriving. During Sravana Masam, a Hindu lunar month associated with increased religious observances, the activity is especially visible. For many who come, the visit does not end when they leave the banks of Godavari.
Visitors fill bottles of the cloudy sacred water from the Pushkar Ghat.
Satyanarayanamma, a woman in her 60s from Nuzvid, a town in Andhra Pradesh located over 100 kilometres from Rajamahendravaram, visits Pushkar Ghat almost every year. She bathes in the Godavari and fills bottles with its water to take home. Her family considers the water sacred and uses it while performing religious practices, including sprinkling it around their home. She said she would continue making the journey every year.
For 32-year-old Muthuswamy, who visits from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu with his family, the journey goes back to his childhood. He remembers coming to Pushkar Ghat with his parents when he was a young boy. Now, he returns with his own family, continuing a tradition that has stayed with him over the years.
People also visit Pushkar Ghat to relax by the river and enjoy the view. Daily visitor figures for the ghat are not publicly available, but Prasad, an RMC sanitation inspector involved in work at Pushkar Ghat, explained that the municipal corporation’s command and control centre, which oversees municipal operations, stays in touch with teams working on the ground. During occasions such as Karthika Masam, Dasami and Dussehra, when footfall increases, the centre contacts the sanitation team to get an approximate estimate of the crowd. The team shares a range based on what its members observe at the ghat, helping the corporation make the necessary arrangements.
Such crowd management becomes particularly important during the Godavari Pushkarams, when the ghat is expected to receive a much larger gathering of pilgrims. Held once every 12 years, the festival draws people to bathe in the river and perform religious rituals. The next edition is scheduled for 26 June to 7 July 2027. The state government expects eight to 10 crore pilgrims across the festival region, although this estimate does not apply to Pushkar Ghat alone. Details are available on the East Godavari district administration’s festival page.
Preparations also include riverfront development under the Akhanda Godavari project, for which ₹94.44 crore has been sanctioned for work at Pushkar Ghat and Havelock Bridge, a former railway bridge being developed as a heritage and tourism attraction. Plans for Pushkar Ghat include improved design and landscaping to make the space more welcoming throughout the year, while proposals for Havelock Bridge focus on heritage features and visitor facilities. The Union government’s project information outlines the planned works.
An APPCB official confirmed that the board monitors the Godavari every month at selected locations in Rajamahendravaram under its routine water-quality monitoring programme. However, when asked about Pushkar Ghat alone, the official stated, "Specifically for Pushkar Ghat, we don't have any data. The monitoring covers only a few locations in the city, and that information is available through the APPCB website, which is undergoing revisions and could present technical difficulties.” For specific sampling details and records, the official advised submitting a formal written request addressed to the Member Secretary, APPCB.
Also, he said that recently the board has held discussions with the Panchayat Raj Department about monitoring important bathing ghats ahead of the 2027 Pushkarams. An action plan is being prepared, with implementation expected from January 2027. However, the number of ghats to be included in the monitoring programme has not yet been finalised.
These developments form part of preparations for the next Pushkarams, alongside improvements to bathing ghats, roads, sanitation and other facilities across the region. Yet Pushkar Ghat’s significance extends beyond the festival. For regular visitors, it remains a place to spend time by the river and, for some, take home a part of the Godavari.
The Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation (RMC) cleans Pushkar Ghat three times a day, with five sanitation workers assigned to the area, according to Prasad, a sanitation inspector involved in the work. Recorded announcements and signboards repeatedly ask visitors not to use soap or shampoo in the river, but some continue to do so while bathing.
After visitors leave, workers collect discarded flowers, leaves, clothes, plastic bottles and other waste from the steps and surrounding areas. Prasa said wet waste collected from the ghat is sent to a composting yard, while dry waste is transported to a dry-waste centre in Rajamahendravaram.
When asked about his understanding of sacred water and the quality of the Godavari, Venkateswara Rao, 53, who has been visiting Pushkar Ghat for years, said his connection with the river is rooted in deep faith and spirituality. He sees the Godavari as a goddess and considers its water sacred. He said he has noticed changes in the river over the years, including variations in its colour and occasional differences in its smell. However, he had never really thought about whether the water was technically safe for bathing or other uses. He said he did not know enough about water quality to judge its safety.
While the waste around Pushkar Ghat is cleaned regularly and collected, these efforts alone cannot establish the quality of the river water. Substances that dissolve or disperse in the water are harder to manage. A clean-looking ghat does not necessarily mean the water is safe, particularly as pollution concerns extend to the wider stretch of the Godavari around Rajamahendravaram.
A signboard at Pushkar Ghat lists rules for visitors, including avoiding soap, shampoo and washing clothes in the Godavari and disposing of waste in dustbins.
On 25 May 2026, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan inspected pollution-affected stretches of the Godavari between Pushkar Ghat and Kotilingala Ghat, including the Nalla Channel area, where sewage from Rajamahendravaram enters the river. Officials were directed to identify pollution sources and develop measures to address them.
Subsequent reports on an Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) investigation raised concerns about elevated levels of coliform bacteria, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrate, phosphate and sulphide in the wider Rajamahendravaram stretch.
While these findings indicate pollution in the area, they do not establish the current water quality at the specific bathing point at Pushkar Ghat, where visitors also fill bottles. Publicly reported findings from 2026 do not provide a clear, current laboratory result for this location. This distinction matters because water quality can vary across different sections of a river.
Clothes, flowers and other waste from bathing and religious rituals are gathered after being cleared from the ghat steps for collection.
Dr T. Rambabu Tenneti, Associate Professor at SRKR Engineering College and associated with its Water, Environment and Technology (WET) Research Centre, said that pollution detected elsewhere in the Rajamahendravaram stretch should be treated as a sign of wider pollution concerns, not as a direct measure of the water quality at Pushkar Ghat. These findings raise concerns about the condition of the river, but they cannot establish whether the water at the ghat is safe or unsafe.
This is because the quality of river water can change over short distances. Sewage and drainage entering the river, industrial discharges, tributaries, changes in river flow, interaction with riverbed sediments and human activities can all affect the water at different locations. As a result, the water at one point may not have the same quality as the water a short distance away. Pollution detected elsewhere may indicate a possible risk to Pushkar Ghat, particularly where pollution sources are connected through the river, but it does not confirm the actual condition at the ghat.
To understand the risks for people who bathe at Pushkar Ghat or collect its water to take home, Dr Tenneti said recent samples must be collected directly from the actual bathing and water-collection area. He also recommended collecting samples from suitable locations upstream and downstream. Testing should consider different seasons and changes in river flow because water quality can vary with these conditions. Looking at these locations together would help establish whether pollution is entering the river nearby and how it may be affecting the bathing area.
He explained that testing needs to cover both bacterial contamination and other indicators of water quality. Faecal coliform and E. coli are particularly important because their presence can indicate contamination from human or animal waste and the possible presence of disease-causing organisms. These tests help assess the risk of exposure to faecal contamination for people coming into contact with the water.
Another important parameter is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). It measures the amount of oxygen microorganisms need to break down organic matter in water. Higher BOD can indicate a greater amount of biodegradable organic pollution. Dissolved Oxygen (DO), meanwhile, measures the oxygen available in the water and helps show whether conditions are suitable for aquatic life.
Other tests can provide additional information about the water. Nitrate levels can help identify possible inputs from sewage, agriculture and fertilisers. pH indicates whether the water is acidic or alkaline, while turbidity measures how cloudy the water is. Electrical conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) provide information about dissolved substances in the water. Where industrial pollution is suspected, testing should also include heavy metals and other relevant contaminants.
However, Dr Tenneti cautioned that no single parameter can establish the overall safety of the water. Even if pH, TDS or dissolved oxygen levels are within acceptable limits, that does not mean the water is free from bacterial contamination. This is why microbiological testing, particularly for faecal coliform and E. coli, is important when assessing water used for bathing.
Dr Tenneti emphasised that the water quality at Pushkar Ghat needs to be assessed through transparent, location-specific monitoring, with the results made available to the public. Until recent test results from the actual bathing area are available, pollution findings from other parts of the river cannot provide a definitive answer about the water people come into contact with at Pushkar Ghat.
Pushkar Ghat has been tested before, but the available findings do not tell us what the water quality is today. During the 2015 Godavari Mahapushkar, researchers studied 20 ghats used for mass bathing in East Godavari, including Pushkar Ghat and Kotilingala Ghat. The study, published in the Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2017, examined water samples collected before, during and after the festival.
The researchers found that microbial contamination increased during the mass bathing period. At Pushkar Ghat, they recorded an E. coli count of 64 × 10⁷ CFU/ml during the Pushkar period. E. coli is commonly used as an indicator of faecal contamination in water. The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board also reported contamination during the 2015 Pushkarams. According to contemporary news reports, the board recorded 8,400 total coliform colonies per 100 ml at Pushkar Ghat, against a stated standard of 500 colonies per 100 ml.
A later study, published in the Oriental Journal of Chemistry in 2022, examined water samples collected from Pushkar Ghat and other locations around Rajamahendravaram between June 2020 and May 2021. It reported an average BOD of 13.6 mg/L at Pushkar Ghat.
These studies show that researchers found water quality concerns at the ghat in the past. But they relate to specific periods: the 2015 Pushkarams and samples collected up to May 2021. They cannot tell someone filling a bottle at Pushkar Ghat in 2026 what the water contains today.
Waste gathered near the steps and floating in the water at Pushkar Ghat.
The next Pushkarams will bring renewed attention to the Godavari and its ghats. But people do not visit Pushkar Ghat only during the festival. Every morning, they come to bathe, pray and collect water. Some carry it across districts and state borders because they consider it sacred.
The municipality continues to clean the ghat, and announcements remind visitors not to use soap and shampoo in the river. These steps help manage visible waste and bathing practices. But for people who enter the water or carry it home, the condition of the river itself matters just as much. The question is whether the water at the exact place where people bathe and fill bottles is being tested regularly and whether the results are shared with them.
Regular testing at Pushkar Ghat, along with checks upstream and downstream, would help establish how the water quality varies along this stretch of the river. Until current results are available, older studies and findings from other locations cannot provide a clear answer about the water people are using today.
For visitors who consider the Godavari sacred, their connection with the river does not end when they leave its banks. It continues when they carry its water home. Understanding the quality of that water begins with testing it at the very place where people collect it.