The age-old practice of consigning dead bodies to the waters of the Ganga is being discontinued due to increasing pollution and lack of flow in the river.

Instead, even the priests who perform the last rites are persuading the people to bury the dead on the banks of the river or go in for creation ... The practice ... (was related) to the belief that it would provide salvation to the soul.

But over the years, the ... course has been changing, the waters getting shallower and the currents weaker ... The bodies did not float away, but not entangled in the weeds and garbage ...