Leader of India's main opposition extends support to environmental activist in north India
Aggarwal has been agitating for months along with scores of supporters demanding to save River Ganga (Ganges).
Earlier Aggarwal had stated that he does not have the patience to wait for government's response till May 20, hence would want to sacrifice his life for the cause.
Meanwhile Uma Bharti on Sunday visited the city of temples, Varanasi to meet Aggarwal and extend her support to his noble campaign.
"I want to say that people should make efforts to keep river Ganges clean and pure. You should reap the benefits but at the same time one should not exploit the Ganges and destroy its existence," said Bharti.
Bharti also said that she would stay for a day or two in the city, hold meetings with several other activists and outline a plan, which would help them to strengthen their campaign.
"I am going to stay in Varanasi for one or two days and will meet the activists and will contribute to their campaign," added Bharti.
Waiting since long time, G D Aggarwal had lost all his hopes of success for the campaign to save the sacred River Ganges but now with the extended support of the BJP a new ray of hope has emerged for him.
"In these three years the Ganga Basin Authority had released the budget but they have not taken any steps to control pollution and keep it clean and pure. We are not opposing construction of dams and electricity generation, our only concern is that the river must remain clean and water levels should be maintained. We have suggested some scientific means to tackle this problem but the central government is not acting sensibly," said Bharti.
The major problem faced by this prime river of India is that over 90 percent of its water is being used by hydro electric projects and barrages besides plethora of unlawful activities.
Apart from shrinking of the river, the accumulation of silt deposit and garbage along the banks has worried the environmentalists despite millions of rupees being spent on the Action River Ganga Plan.
Earlier also environmental activist G D Aggarwal had undertaken fast-unto-death as a mark of protest against the government's apathy towards the worsening condition of the River Ganga.
In 2011, the federal government approved a $1 billion loan from the World Bank, to fund an eight-year project to clean the River Ganga, in particular the large stretches heavily polluted by industrial effluents and domestic waste.
The 2,510-kilometre-long river that runs from a glacier in the western Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh supports over 400 million of India's 1.2 billion populations.
Leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) extends support to environmental activist G D Aggarwal who has raise the issue of uninterrupted flow of River Ganges in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state.
shotlist
VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (MAY 06, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. VEHICLE ARRIVING
2. LEADER OF INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP), UMA BHARTI GETTING OUT OF THE CAR
3. BHARTI WALKING
4. BHARTI MEETING ENVIRONMENT ACTIVIST G D AGGARWAL
5. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) LEADER OF THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY, UMA BHARTI, SAYING:
"I want to say that people should make efforts to keep river Ganges clean and pure. You should reap the benefits but at the same time one should not exploit the Ganges and destroy its existence."
6. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) LEADER OF THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY, UMA BHARTI, SAYING:
"I am going to stay in Varanasi for one or two days and will meet the activists and will contribute to their campaign."
7. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) LEADER OF THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY, UMA BHARTI, SAYING:
"In these three years the Ganga Basin Authority had released the budget but they have not taken any steps to control pollution and keep it clean and pure. We are not opposing construction of dams and electricity generation, our only concern is that the river must remain clean and water levels should be maintained. We have suggested some scientific means to tackle this problem but the central government is not acting sensibly."
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