The Government is not fulfilling its important responsibility of enforcing the ban on mechanical mining on the Ganga riverbed in Haridwar. Recently on March 4, the Chief Minister had verbally assured representatives of Matri Sadan Ashram that the ban on mining on the Ganga riverbed stretch from Raiwala to Bhogpur will be enforced. However, the State has not yet taken concrete action on this even as Swami Shivananda’s hunger strike sans water entered its fourth day on Monday. Coming out in his support, various social, environmental and political activists have demanded that the State Government should act on its past assurance regarding mining on the Ganga.
Hemant Dhyani of Ganga Ahvaan, who was part of delegation that had met the CM Harish Rawat on the issue on March 4, said that Rawat had assured that the State will enforce the mining ban on Ganga in Haridwar but the required notification regarding this has not being issued by the State. “After the 2010 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, the Mela administration had agreed to the demand for doubling the Kumbh Mela area but here again the government has not issued the necessary notification. For some years now, Swami Shivananda has gone on hunger strike repeatedly against illegal mining on Ganga in Haridwar and expansion of Kumbh Mela area because the successive assurances given by the authorities have not been met so far,” he said.
Former member of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) Ravi Chopra, who headed the supreme court appointed expert body to study impact of hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand after the June 2013 disaster, said that the State Government is not discharging its important responsibility. He said, “In 2012 the supreme court ordered that no mining activity will be allowed on the riverbed without environmental clearance. Further, the National Green Tribunal clarified that there will be no mechanical mining activity on the riverbed. Shivananda has been agitating on this issue persistently for years now but neither the Union Government nor the State Government appear serious on doing the needful against illegal mining on the Ganga. However, I am optimistic and think that the authorities will have to give in to public pressure this time and stop the illegal mining on the Ganga,” he said.
Former IIT professor and noted researcher Dr DS Bhargava said, “There are two major inter-linked aspects of this issue- illegal mining on the Ganga riverbed and contamination of this holy river. The establishment suffers because we don’t have the right person at the right place. The issue of Ganga is under the ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change which does not have the right people in place to address this issue which is basically hydrological. Raw sewage and human waste is being openly drained into the Ganga in Haridwar but the government is yet to act on this. There are some elements which are anti-Ganga while there are others who have no concern or awareness regarding the Ganga,” he added.
lambasting the Union and State governments, Communist Party of India leader Samar Bhandari said that the Ganga has been transformed mainly into a means of business. “In recent years there have been repeated confrontations between the public and government on the issue of natural resources,” he added. Mallika Bhanot of Ganga Ahvaan and Citizens For Green Doon chief coordinator Dr Nitin Pandey were also among those present at the Press conference.