Protestors fast unto death in 'Save River Ganga' campaign in northern India
MAY 19, 2012 Varanasi (ANI ) By Girish Kumar Dubey
Five of the protestors including Hindu seers have been fasting for more than 100 hours.
Meanwhile, Hindu seer Swamy Abhimukteswaranand who is heading the campaign in the state along with environmental activist G D Aggarwal on Saturday (May 19) told reporters that the condition of the protestors is very bad and they have been admitted in the hospital.
"Physical condition of all the protestors is very bad but they are still strong at heart and their determination to take their protest further has strengthened," said Abhimukteswaranand.
Meanwhile officials from the Prime Minister Office and National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) arrived in the state to meet the protestors.
"We were not invited to the talks in this regard. Earlier the provincial administration had told us that the officials from the Prime Minister Office are coming and they would like to talk with you and we said that we have no problem in that. However later due to emergency we came here to hospital and the meantime officials met others and they left after that," added Abhimukteswaranand.
Meanwhile, the officials civic officials camce out to came to meet and seek solution as these protestors were not invited to the meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 17
"Physical condition of all the protestors is very bad but they are still strong at heart and their determination to take their protest further has strengthened," said Abhimukteswaranand., a close associate of Indian Against Corruption, moted by Narenda Dhotu
Federal Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan were also present at the meet.
State Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Bahuguna of Uttarakhand, Nitish Kumar of Bihar and Arjun Munda of Jharkhand besides environmental activists and Hindu monks were among others who took part in the NGRBA deliberations.
The major problem faced by this prime river of India is that over 90 percent of its water has been used by hydro electric projects and, barrages besides plethora of unlawful activities.
Apart from the shrinking 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.
Social activist G D Aggarwal and his supporters at Varanasi in northern state of Uttar Pradesh, prolong their indefinite hunger strike in the cause of keeping River Ganges clean.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (MAY 19, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. FASTING PROTESTORS LYING ON THE HOSPITAL BED
2. A SIGN BOARD READING 'GANGES'
3. A FASTING PROTESTOR LYING ON THE BED
4. OFFICIALS STANDING
5. FASTING PROTESTOR SITTING
6. ONE OF THE FASTING PROTESTORS SITTING ON THE HOSPITAL BED
7. PROTESTOR SITTING
8. ONE OF THE FASTING PROTESTORS LYING ON THE HOSPITAL BED
9. PROTESTOR LYING ON THE BED
10. FACE OF THE PROTESTOR
11. PROTESTOR LYING ON THE BED
12. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) HINDU SEER SWAMI ABHIMUKTESWARANAND, SAYING:
"Physical condition of all the protestors is very bad but they are still strong at heart and their determination to take their protest further has strengthened."
13. ONE OF THE PROTESTORS SITTING
14. PROTESTOR SITTING
15. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) HINDU SEER, SWAMI ABHIMUKTESWARANAND, SAYING:
"We were not invited to the talks in this regard. Earlier the provincial administration had told us that the officials from the Prime Minister Office are coming and they would like to talk with you and we said that we have no problem in that. However later due to emergency we came here to hospital and the meantime officials met others and they left after that."
16. ONE OF THE FASTING PROTESTORS LYING ON THE HOSPITAL BED
17. PROTESTOR LYING ON THE BED
18. PROTESTOR'S FACE
19. PROTESTOR LYING ON THE BED
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