Matri Sadan founder Swami Shivanand has written to the President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India, asking their intervention to ensure that the stone crushers operating near the Ganga riverbed comply with the norms laid down by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). He said that the letter contains a seven- point charter of demands related to preservation of the sanctity of the country’s holy river. Meanwhile, to put fresh pressure on the government to meet the outfit’s demands, a disciple of the seer Swami Atmabodhanand started his indefinite fasting on Monday.
The letter has also been marked to the Governor and Chief Justice of Uttarakhand aside from the chairperson of National Green Tribunal.
“We have demanded a thorough probe into exchange of around Rs 1.5 crore regarding deals to facilitate stone crushing operation in violation of the orders of CPCB Delhi and even High Court. Another demand is that the stone crushers must be made to fully comply with the directives laid down by CPCB,” said the seer.
The seer said that the state government had restarted mining by an order dated on October 16 despite the order of the High Court dated August 24 for closing all stone crushing plants. “Since then mining has been going on in full swing in the riverbeds of Ganga,” he added. The letter states that “as per the directions of the Uttarakhand High Court dated May 26 2011, the district magistrate sealed all the stone crushers situated within five km from the bank of Ganga on February 16 2015 and ordered the area to be notified as no- crushing zone and be developed for organic farming.”
The seer further said that heavy illegal mining is making ditches of 30-40 feet in the agricultural fields situated on the Ganga banks and several islands clad with valuable ‘khair’ and ‘Sheesham’ trees were destroyed, causing thus grave ecological disturbances to this area. “We demand thus a high level inquiry to be constituted to identify those responsible for this,” he said.
The letter also demands a high- level expert committee to be set up to fix the dimension of the destruction allegedly caused by the officers of Utarakhand Forest Corporation and Uttarakhand Forest Department by carrying unscientific mining on totally false ground of replenishment. “The responsibility must be fixed and the amount must be collected from those who are responsible. If required, the probe should be handed over to CBI to persecute the guilty,” Swami Shivanand said.
He also demanded action against the DM Haridwar Deepak Rawat, saying that he must be made to undergo a fresh training which might help him discharge his responsibilities better and learn how to behave in tune with the dignity of the post he is holding.
