GD was disheartened by e-flow notice: Ganga activist

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 12 

A day after environmentalist Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand (Prof GD Agarwal), on an indefinite fast to draw the attention of “fellow Gangaputra” PM Narendra Modi towards the plight of the holy river, passed away, his associates pledged to keep alive his fight for “aviral and nirmal” Ganga through a mass movement. 

Aimed at “awakening" the people towards the cause, GD’s close associate, “waterman” Rajendra Singh said a yatra would begin from Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar on Sunday and end at Gangasagar in West Bengal on Makar Sankranti on January 14. 

“Swami Sanand believed in ‘ishwar shakti’ but we believe it is time to awaken ‘lok shakti’. We will tell people how PM Modi and his government ignored his repeated missives on Ganga. When Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (MP) showed up with the e-flow notification,  GD told him it was trash and it should be torn as the so-called e-flow they proposed did not have the strength to maintain ‘Gangatva’ (Ganga's essence).

“It was after this meeting that he gave up water. When he was alive, he was ignored. Much like (former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” Rajendra  Singh observed. He said GD wrote several letters to ministers given the responsibility to rejuvenate the Ganga, and to Modi. However, none evoked a response. 

“It is time people know about the notification and the Ganga Act they are trying to bring in, now that the elections are near,” Singh said.

 Trashing the  e-flow notification issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, he said the “helpless, weak effort” was not even close to achieving what was required to protect the essence of Ganga, its gene pool and bio-diversity.

GD’s last letter to PM Modi reads: “It was my expectation that you would go two steps forward and make special efforts for the sake of Gangaji because you created a separate ministry for works related to Gangaji. But in the past four years, all actions undertaken by your government have not at all been gainful to Gangaji and in her place, gains are to be seen only for the corporate sector and business houses.”

E-flow notification

Certain minimum environmental flows have to be maintained at various locations. Environmental flows are the acceptable flow regimes required to maintain a river in the desired environmental state or predetermined state. Minister Nitin Gadkari said the notification would go a long way in ensuring ‘aviralta’ — continuous flow of the river

Last letter to PM

Till now, you have only thought on the point of earning profits from Gangaji. You do not seem to be giving anything to Gangaji, such is the impression created by projects in relation to Gangaji.—Prof GD Agarwal