Environmentalists and activists, who undertook the Himalaya people’s policy campaign from Gangotri in Uttarakhand to Gangasagar in West Bengal are disappointed at the failure of the Central Government to initiate any dialogue with the stakeholders and subject experts regarding the conservation of the Ganga and Himalayas.
A total of 1,000 people from different parts of the country have written post cards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the campaign to elicit focus on these issues.
Addressing the media, environmentalist and campaign coordinator Suresh Bhai said that the first stage of the Himalaya policy campaign began at Gangotri on October 11 last year and concluded at Haridwar on October 30.
The second stage of the campaign began from Haridwar on February 2 this year and concluded at Gangasagar on February 18. A total of 45 meets and talks were held at various places along the Ganga’s course in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
“We had direct contact with about 5,000 people during the campaign and were surprised to learn that though a separate ministry has been formed for Ganga rejuvenation, neither the stakeholders nor the subject experts and activists are being involved in discussions on the rejuvenation and preservation of the Ganga and its tributaries. Only those either in or close to the BJP have been involved in talks held by the ministry so far.
Considering the drastic reduction in the volume of water in the Ganga and other rivers in recent decades and other factors, the residents of the Himalayan regions could become climate refugees in the future. The 11 Himalayan States account for about 16.5 per cent geographical area of India and are irreplaceable not only from the environmental point of view but a total of only 36 Members of Parliament are elected from these States,” he said.
On being asked about the focus of the State and Central Governments to resume work on stalled hydro power projects in Uttarakhand, Suresh Bhai said, “The State Government appears to hold a seasonal view of the Himalayan environment. The facts that have been exposed by frequent disasters in the State cannot be ignored in the name of development.
In the Himalaya people’s policy, there is no place for tunnel based big dams in this region,” he stressed. A detailed report of the campaign will be prepared and presented at a programme on Himalaya people’s policy in Delhi on March 27.