Haridwar, Aug. 13 -- The holy city of Haridwar is scrambling to dispose of over 7000 tonnes of garbage generated during the two-week Kanwar Yatra when nearly 48 million pilgrims descended on it, the highest number on record. Heaps of garbage comprising plastic, clothes, 'Kanwars,' and non-degradable polythene waste remain strewn across the city, municipal officials said on Wednesday. The areas worst affected are the 'ghats' on the Ganga river, markets where pilgrims rested and ate, access roads into the city from the national highways and designated parking areas for vehicles in the processions. The district administration has launched a mega cleanliness drive from August 12 to 18. Civic authorities have deployed over 1000 sanitation personnel and 100 outsourced workers for the drive, along with 80 vehicles. Officials said it will take days for the waste to collected, transported to garbage collection centres and disposed. "Sanitation workers have been deployed in groups around Har-ki-Pauri and the Mela," municipal corporation town commissioner Nandan Kumar said. "Waste collection and disposal is also being carried out in city markets, lanes, roads and parking lots on a war footing," he added. Officials said discarded clothes alone amounted to several metric tonnes and would be recycled. "It is vital that local residents, the saint community, religious organisations, educational institutions, volunteers and traders also participate," chief development officer Lalit Narayan Mishra said. The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body of recognised akhadas, has informed the administration that members of akhadas would participate in the drive. Environmentalists flagged the possibility of rising pollution levels in the Ganga. "Bacterial content increases when garbage, sewage, plastic, polythene and human waste enter the river. The risk of microplastics being absorbed also remains a major concern," said Gagan Matta, assistant professor, department of environmental science, Gurukula Kangri University....