Swami Shivanand starts fast against quarrying

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, May 23

Swami Shivanand of the Matra Sadan ashram started a fast here yesterday against illegal quarrying on the Ganga riverbed going on in Haridwar. His disciple Brahmachari Atmabodhanand is already into the second week of his agitation demanding a ban on quarrying on the Ganga riverbed and shifting of stone crushers at least 5 km from the river.

In a letter to the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of the Nainital High Court and the President of India, Swami Shivanand said despite court directives and environmental concerns, mass illeqal quarrying was being done in the Ganga in Uttarakhand.

He said despite several agitations, letters to the Uttarakhand government and the district administration about the impact of illegal quarrying on the Ganga and the local ecology, no corrective steps had been taken in the past few years.

“I can’t ignore the dangerous impact of quarrying and hence had started an agitation earlier too. But except assurances the state government and the district administration had done nothing. Besides shunning water intake too during my agitation, I also seek permission from the honourable Supreme Court to grant me permission to leave this human body too,” said an emotional Shivanand.

He cited court orders regarding ban on quarrying within 10 km radius of the Rajaji National Tiger Reserve and said illegal quarrying was still going on and the Haridwar district and the police were keeping silent on the sensitive issue.

“The Uttarakhand government had earlier stopped quarrying on the Ganga riverbed but now it had given order to clean the Ganga by allowing quarrying. Ganga cleaning is not the intent of the government and quarrying is the hidden agenda. The Matra Sadan opposes this move and hence I have also started an agitation,” said Shivanand.

Meanwhile, the ex-Army personnel organization has lent support to Swami Shivanand. Dinesh Chandra Saklani, president of the Ex Army, Ex-paramilitary Forces Personnel, who met Swami Shivanand at the Matra Sadan ashram in Jagjeetpur, 5 km from Haridwar city, expressed solidarity with his movement.

“Illegal quarrying has harmed the Ganga riverbed drastically. It should be stopped immediately. The quarrying mafia has made deep inroads into the echelons of power and the administration. If need be, we will also start an agitation. We support the Matra Sadan agitation against the quarrying mafia,” said Saklani.