After 10 days of fasting, the founder of Matri Sadan Swami Shivanand has ended his tapasya (self- restraint) on Wednesday following the issuance of a letter from additional secretary, Union ministry of water resources river development and Ganga rejuvenation, directing the Central pollution control board to take stern action against stone crushers engaged in mining in the Ganga river bed.
The district authorities have also been directed to implement the Environment Act in the district. Following plea from the seer, the ministry has taken this major step to save Ganga from getting robbed of its resources.
The 50 -odd stone crushers located on the banks of Ganga might face the Pollution Board’s axe with the significant move taken by the Central Ministry, observers say.
The Ministry has asked the stone crushers which are located within five km area, near Ganga to be closed down. Besides, district magistrate and SSP have been asked to follow the instructions from the State Government and take action against the miscreants.
DM Haridwar Harbans Singh Chugh said, “We are in receipt of a letter from Chairman Central Pollution Control Board S P Singh Parihar which has three points of instruction, first directed to the district magistrate and the other two to the principal secretary of the State.”
The first point of instruction directed the local authorities to follow the orders of the state CM to check mining in the Ganga river bed from Bhogpur to Raiwala. However, the point of concern is that the November notification issued by the state Government says that mining has been opened from Raiwala to Bhogpur. It raises questions as to how the district authorities would check mining activities.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Swami Shivanand said, “The Government has asked the state and district authorities to ban both legal and illegal mining in the Ganga riverbed. In the letter written by additional secretary and director general U P Singh, I have been asked to rethink on my fast. I am thus ending my fast today.”