Angry over ‘false’ assurance given by the district administration vis-à-vis stoppage of illegal mining in Ganga flowing in Haridwar district, the head of Matri Sadan Swami Shivanand has warned that he would resume indefinite hunger strike soon. He warned the chief secretary Rakesh Shrama that he would land in trouble because of his having deceived the ascetics.
The seer said the CS had not issued the pertinent notification over illegal mining as promised earlier in June. “The administration must act promptly failing which I would be forced to resume the indefinite hunger strike,” he warned while talking to the media here on Wednesday.
Dubbing the DM Haridwar HC Semwal as the most corrupt official in the state, he said the DM had announced leveling/dredging of river- bed materials in river Ganga at various locations lying between Bishanpur and Tanda Bhogpur in May. “Interestingly, officials of the Revenue, Irrigation and Forest department were involved in the committee. These department have claimed that riverbed materials worth around Rs100 crore had been lifted off in the name of leveling/dredging. But the amount is yet to be deposited in treasury till date. Many district administrative officials are angry over this ,” the seer said.
Shivanand also slammed the working strategy of the State Pollution Control Board of Uttarakhand. “ Roorkee-based regional officer, SPCB, claimed in writing that no stone crusher was running across the district. However, the fact is that Endavor Stone Crusher is operating in the district, a firm that is owned by the state forest minister Dinesh Agarwal,” the ascetic alleged.