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Sants protest pollution of Ganga

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW JAN. 31. Thousands of Hindu `sants' and `sadhus' today observed a fast and threatened to boycott their traditional bathing at the Sangam — the confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad — tomorrow on Mauni Amavasya protesting against the "negligent attitude of the authorities in checking pollution in the holy Ganga".

An unnerved district administration was trying to persuade the enraged holy men to reconsider their boycott decision but the latter were reported to be unrelenting. Reports from Allahabad said that the water flowing in the Ganga this year had been badly polluted and those who had converged there to perform their annual ritual of `kalpvas' (spending the whole month of Magh of the Hindu calendar at the Sangam) had found the situation unbearable.

Traditionally those performing `kalpvas' use only the Ganga water for drinking, besides bathing in the river thrice a day to perform their worship. The water had, however, become so polluted — its colour had changed — that one would not like to touch it, said the kalpvasis.

On Wednesday, the holy men protested by forming a human chain. They urged the administration to take urgent measures to salvage the situation. Today, they observed a fast and announced their decision to boycott the traditional bathing. Some of them even threatened self-immolation. The administration apparently panicked with two Shankaracharyas — Swami Swarupanand Saraswati of the Jyotishpeeth and Swami Nischalanand Saraswati of Puri — leading the agitation.

The District Magistrate of Allahabad, Devesh Chaturvedi, assured them that the administration was doing everything to decrease the pollution level in the river and that the situation was likely to improve.

The Ganga Action Plan was launched 15 years ago but, according to official sources, only about 39 per cent harmful effluents discharged in the river has been diverted. The situation has only deteriorated during all these years.

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