Historically, socially and culturally, riverbanks have been the beating heart of cities built along rivers in the Indian subcontinent.
The sacred steps at these ghats serve as the stage for life’s most profound moments — prayers at dawn, farewells at dusk, and the mystical glow of the ceremonial flames flickering against the river’s dark expanse. They are where faith meets the flow of time, where the living seek blessings and the departed find release.
Perhaps that is why, just hours after taking the oath as chief minister on February 20, Rekha Gupta and her council of ministers left the Delhi secretariat and headed straight to Vasudev Ghat near Kashmere Gate for a Yamuna aarti.
The red sandstone steps, built less than a year ago, now host a Varanasi-style aarti every week. That evening, as devotional chants and the rhythmic clang of temple bells filled the air, a quieter scene unfolded just 900 metres downstream.
At the older, crumbling ghats of Yamuna Bazaar, boatmen and priests watched anxiously. These ghats, long forgotten by planners and politicians, were once the lifeblood of river rituals. Now, they are trapped between a past they cannot let go of and a future that may not include them.
“While we are hopeful our ghat too is transformed like Vasudev ghat, this may mean demolition of the houses built along the ghats,” said Ganesh Pandit, a 30-year-old Yamuna bazaar resident who works as a boatman.
The ghats, which are a flight of steps leading down to a river, form an integral space of interaction between a river and its people. Derived from the Sanskrit root “ghatta” meaning “a landing place”, ghats are steps built parallel to the river flow.
There is a story and a purpose behind every ghat — they serve as the people’s connection to the river.
From Nigambodh Ghat, where the dead find their final resting place, to Rajghat, where the nation’s tallest leaders are remembered; from Chhath Ghat, where Purvanchali families pray to the rising sun, to Yamuna Bazaar, where migratory birds find sanctuary and young couples pose for pre-wedding shoots; and finally, Vasudev Ghat, the city’s newest riverfront attraction built in the shadow of history.
But the ghats, meant to bring people closer to the Yamuna, often become sources of pollution.
Discarded items floating on the riverside are common sights at ghats. After prayers and immersions, flowers wrapped in plastic, half-burnt incense sticks, and broken idols are left behind, eventually making their way into the river, adding pollution to the already toxic waters. During festivals like Chhath, when thousands gather to offer prayers to the Sun, the banks are completely left strewn with offerings, remnants of rituals. Year after year, civic authorities scramble to clean up after major events, but with no sustained enforcement, the cycle keeps repeating. Environmentalists warn that unless this cycle of neglect and inaction ends, the city’s ghats will remain a source of pollution.
The first two parts of this series by HT followed the Yamuna’s journey as it entered Delhi at Palla and remained relatively clean until the Najafgarh drain at Wazirabad.
But by the time the river reaches these ghats, it is little more than a poisoned vein snaking through the city. The Najafgarh drain alone injects 70% of the pollution load near Signature Bridge, stripping the river of oxygen and turning its waters into a breeding ground for disease. Even rituals — bathing, immersions, Chhath Puja — are banned for safety. Yet, the ghats endure, and people continue to come.
Sur Ghat: A forgotten past
A narrow trail leads down the western banks of the Wazirabad Barrage to Sur Ghat, where debris from demolished religious shrines – all constructed without due permissions – lies in stark contrast to the steady stream of devotees.
Until December, four temples stood here before an anti-encroachment drive by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) – on orders by National Green Tribunal the Delhi high court to clear floodplains of illegal encroachment – wiped them away in the final fortnight of 2024. Today, the priests who served in these temples sit under banyan trees, offering blessings to those still willing to take a dip in the Yamuna’s murky waters.
Sur ghat is one of the city’s oldest “active” ghats. Hundreds of people come here every day to seek blessings.
“After the demolitions, the entire ghat is littered with debris. Even the water tanks near these shrines were broken,” said Raj Kumar, 20, who sells puja items such as flowers, flour balls (to feed the fish in the river), bajra and coconut to devotees. “Despite everything, people still come. This ghat, like many others, is where people can physically reach the river. That still matters to them.”
Ranveer Giri, a young priest born near the ghat, has watched devotion persist even as the river’s condition worsened. “If ghats are not protected, people’s connection with the river will suffer. My parents told me how clean Yamuna Ji used to be. It is heartbreaking what we have done to her,” he said. A third-generation priest, Gir said his grandfather told him stories of a time when they could drink the same water passing through the stretch in front of their house.
Sur Ghat, at least, has something the ghats further downstream do not — relatively clean water. The poison of the 22 drains emptying into the Yamuna has not yet reached this stretch. But the signs are there. Despite warnings, polybags full of flowers, urns of ashes, and broken idols float down the river, as faith and neglect continue their uneasy coexistence.
Vasudev Ghat: The new showcase
About 5km downstream, Vasudev Ghat presents a different picture — a meticulously landscaped riverfront with manicured lawns, sandstone pavilions, and a grand staircase leading to the water. Built on the site of the old Qudsia Ghat, the project has transformed an inaccessible, garbage-laden stretch into a gleaming new space where devotees can once again take a ritual dip.
Before the redevelopment, the area was inaccessible due to a steep slope, was littered with garbage, and had 1.5-foot-deep silt deposits from the 2023 floods.
The restored riverbank now has carved pavilions and lush greens with more than 2,000 trees, and 400,000 riverine grass saplings. A green statue of “Ma Yamuna” has been installed here, along with a chhatri covering a 300kg metal bell sourced from Jalesar in Uttar Pradesh.
DDA is developing a “Charbagh-style” landscape around the ghat – an Indo-Persian architectural style where the garden is divided into four sections. A 2.1-metre-wide and 1.8km-long pedestrian track and a 2.8-metre-wide and 1.3-km-long cycle track is also in place.
This is where CM Gupta and her cabinet held their aarti on February 20.
The aarti here is not just an act of devotion but a spectacle, choreographed by an event management company. Every Sunday and Tuesday, high-powered speakers, decorative chhatris, and dramatic lighting turn the ghat into a stage for saffron-clad priests performing synchronized rituals. Right before the staircase, a narrow channel carrying relatively cleaner water has been carved out, separating it from the dark, toxic flow of the main river.
Mahesh Kumar, a security guard at the ghat, has watched attendance surge. “Earlier, maybe 50 people would come for the aarti. Now, 400-500 show up. Drug addicts used to loiter here, but now it’s a place for families, picnics, and prayers,” he said.
On a late March afternoon with temperatures not too hot, several families were seen relaxing on lawns with toddlers playing with pet dogs.
Anjali Khosla, 32, who visited the ghat with her children, said she had no idea such a place existed in Delhi. “If all ghats were developed like this, people’s connection with the Yamuna would increase,” she said.
The transformation at Vasudev Ghat is part of a larger vision. DDA has plans to redevelop 16 hectares of riverbank between Wazirabad and the Old Railway Bridge for commercial activities. Vasudev Ghat offers a glimpse into what the future of Delhi’s riverfront could look like — if development wins over decay.
Nigambodh Ghat: Where Delhi sees off its dead
Between Vasudev Ghat and the old Yamuna Bazaar ghats lies Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi’s largest cremation ground, where flames have never ceased burning. The cremation facility is located on the bank of the river and the entire complex located between the river and Outer Ring Road. Nigmabodh is overseen by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and its operations are run by an NGO.
Here, tradition keeps families returning generation after generation.
“There is a strong belief that cremation along the Yamuna helps attain peace for the departed. Generations after generations keep coming back for the final rites of their loved ones,” he added. The site also saw the last rites of former PM Manmohan Singh in December last year.
But the river is no longer the sacred presence it once was. During the 2023 floods, the Yamuna swallowed the funeral platforms, leaving the entire cremation complex submerged for a week. When the waters receded, they left behind silt and destruction.
Yet, people continue to bring their dead here, as they have for centuries.
Yamuna Bazaar: Frozen in time
A 10-foot flood wall hides the ghats of Yamuna Bazaar from the eyes of the city. But behind these walls, lies a world frozen in time. Once the epicentre of Delhi’s riverine life, the ghats by Yamuna Bazaar — 32 in total — are now crumbling under the weight of neglect. Though an aarti is performed daily, as it has been for decades, the infrastructure is crumbling. The steps, once crowded with pilgrims, are now a patchwork of broken stone and makeshift repairs.
Despite this, the ghat has found a strange afterlife.
Migratory birds flock here in winter, drawing birdwatchers. Pre-wedding photoshoots take place at sunrise and sunset, drone cameras capturing couples against the river’s golden glow.
Ganesh Pandit, 30, a boatman, said that the centuries old ghats here date back to colonial period. Rather than demolishing the old ghats for redevelopment, they should be conserved, he lamented. “People come to see the river, to take boat rides. These are the original ghats of Delhi. They should be preserved, not demolished,” he said.
Behind him, a group of students are entrapped by a flock of birds, while a couple takes a boat ride, for which local boat-riders including Pandit often charge ₹500. Teams from companies offering pre-wedding shoots come armed with drones, gimble and tripods are busy. Komal Sharma, a member of the unit says that they offer such shoots for prices up to ₹20,000 per shoot. “Among the locations we cover for our shoot, this is the most popular site. The water stinks a bit, but visually it’s a great place,” she said.
But demolition may be coming.
Many of the priests and shopkeepers fear eviction as DDA issues notices to remove structures deemed illegal. Sunil Sharma, a priest, pointed to old documents proving the ghats’ existence since 1902. In his possession, he has pre-independence maps and plans of the area titled “site plan of the steps on the bank of the Jumna river”. “We have met CMs, the President, ministers. These ghats are older than independent India. They must not be erased.”
Others: Rajghat to Chhath Ghat
There are other ghats that are synonymous with the city’s life. At Raj Ghat, the city hosts memorials ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to former prime ministers and other key leaders.
Raj Ghat derives its name from a historic ghat in Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi on the west bank of the Yamuna. The first memorial was dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi on the spot where his remains were cremated on January 31, 1948, with the latest being Sadaiv Atal in memory of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2018 and the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal for former President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Chhathh Ghat, located at the footsteps of the ITO Barrage, is another key riverbank which comes alive during Chhath. The wide space between the river and the concrete ghat offers enough space to set up temporary pools filled with water where devotees stand knee deep in water praying the Sun deity.
In 2021, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) banned celebrating Chhath Puja on the banks of the Yamuna river, citing pollution concerns. Enforcement, however, proved challenging as devotees continued to throng the river. To counter this, the government started setting up 1,000-odd “ghats” in the form of artificial ponds across the city, to keep devotees from immersing idols in the river.
Challenges for the way ahead
Experts, meanwhile, stress that ghats remain the second-most prominent sources of pollutions for the Yamuna after drains.
“Ideally, nothing, not even flowers, should be thrown into a river. Even though it decomposes, the process to decompose it increases the river’s biological oxygen demand. Efforts are needed at these ghats to create collection points where people can pray and throw these items there, instead of in the river. Once collected, these items can be reused or recycled, thus not hurting people’s sentiments either,” said Yamuna activist Pankaj Kumar, who goes by the moniker “Earth Warrior” on X.
The new government has ambitious plans — promising to clean the Yamuna within three years and develop a Sabarmati-like riverfront with commercial hubs, theatres, and entertainment zones. But the National Green Tribunal has warned against encroachments on the floodplain.
As politics, development, and environmental concerns collide, Delhi’s ghats stand at a crossroads. Will they be revitalised like Vasudev Ghat or pushed into obscurity like Yamuna Bazaar? For now, the aartis continue, the birds return each winter, and the flames at Nigambodh Ghat refuse to die. The river may be choked with filth, but its ghats remain alive, waiting for Delhi to remember what they once were.