As the Brahmaputra Pushkar festival has been going on in Guwahati, the district administration has closed the sluice gate of the Bharalu to minimise the pollution level of the Brahmaputra during the Pushkar Festival as the devotees will take bath in the river. Also, the Water Resources Department diverted the Bharalu river water through the Mora Bharalu to Deepor Beel. Environmentalists have termed the act as "extremely unscientific, anti-environment and irrational".