{"id":47838,"date":"2018-08-06T17:26:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=47838"},"modified":"2018-08-06T17:27:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:57:38","slug":"indias-formidable-green-warrior-refuses-to-give-up-fight-for-ganga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/india-news\/indias-formidable-green-warrior-refuses-to-give-up-fight-for-ganga\/","title":{"rendered":"India’s Formidable Green Warrior Refuses to Give Up Fight For Ganga"},"content":{"rendered":"
~By Rashme Sehgal<\/strong><\/p>\n With the meeting between Minister of Sanitation and Drinking Water Uma Bharti and Prof GD Agarwal (Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand) in Hardwar proving a failure last week, river activists across India are planning to intensify their stir to get the Modi government to acquiesce to this formidable environmentalist’s demands to restore the flow of the Ganga and to stop polluting the river.<\/p>\n Recognising the need to clean the Ganga on an immediate basis, on July 27, the National Green Tribunal asked the government to educate people about how the Ganga water was unfit both for drinking and bathing purposes.<\/p>\n The NGT declared that if cigarette packets can contain a warning saying it is injurious for health, why not the people be informed about the adverse effects (of Ganga water). The public can be educated by the authorities installing display boards at a gap of 100 kilometres. On July 19, the NGT had admonished the government stating that already it had spent over Rs 7000 crores in the last two years to clean the river, it still remained highly polluted.<\/p>\n From August 3, Agarwal’s supporters have been on a relay fast in the capital. On July 30th on the 38th day of Agarwal’s fast, his supporters and Ganga activists from 11 states converged for a prayer meeting at Rajghat. They are now planning to hold these prayers meetings at Rajghat on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n Agarwal is on a fast unto death at the Matri Sadan ashram in Hardwar to force the government\u2019s hand to clean up the Ganga river for which he is willing to give up his life.<\/p>\n Bharti assured him that the Ganga Bill \u2013 an amended form of the \u201cNational River Ganga (Conservation and Management) Act 2012″ drafted by some non-government members of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) \u2013 will be passed by Parliament during the winter session of Parliament. The amendments will include the banning of all pollutants in the river as also removal of encroachments along the river.<\/p>\n Bharti even got Agarwal to speak on the phone to Minister of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari but Agarwal refused to bend. He told both ministers in no uncertain terms that\u00a0 unless some concrete step were taken to save the Ganga there was no question of ending his fast which entered its 46th day on Sunday.<\/p>\n Agarwal had earlier written to Gadkari that the Ganga conservation law ensuring concrete action be taken to clean up the Ganga be passed in this Monsoon Session of Parliament. But Gadkari had in turn informed\u00a0 him that the earliest the bill could be presented in Parliament was during the Winter session.<\/p>\n \u201cJust placing the bill in Parliament does not mean anything. It can be kept pending for 2-3 years and then also there can be many changes in the bill. The day the Bill is passed, I will break my fast,\u201d said Agarwal.<\/p>\n Agarwal has undertaken several fasts in the past in a determined attempt to save the Ganga. Even in 2013, he had put his life at stake by undertaking a three-month long fast. The previous Manmohan Singh government had to acquiesce to his demands and had stopped three key projects on the Ganga in Uttarakhand including the Loharinag-Pal Hydropower project. They had also banned all construction on the upper stretch of Bhagirathi from Gaumukh up to Uttarakashi.<\/p>\n