How many more sons of Ganga will have to lose their lives for river’s free flow?

The spiritually charged waters of Ganga are in danger claim citizen activists and The National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) and added that the spiritual charges from the Holy Shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri are being destroyed by the turbines of the existing hydropower projects at Vishnu Prayag, Srinagar, Maneri, Tehri and Koteshwar.

ganga cleaning
Image Courtesy: Reuters

The spiritually charged waters of Ganga are in danger claim citizen activists and The National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM). In a letter addressed to PM Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Minister, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry, Government of India and Trivendra Rawat, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand, they asked how many more sons of Ganga will have to lose their lives in a bid to save the holy river.
 
“To save the holy Ganga, her sons have risen and stood up for her. Swami Saanand fasted for 111 days to draw the attention of the powers to be to its cries for survival before he succumbed unheeded. Carrying on the baton, Sant Gopaldas fasted for 146 days when he disappeared under suspicious circumstances unheard and unheeded. Presently the 26-year-old young Brahmachari Aatmabodhanand from Matri Sadan, Haridwar, has been on a fast since October 24, 2018, determined to carry on the baton for Ganga for a positive response,” they said.
 
They want the government to immediately stop work on three dams. “Presently, three under-construction dams namely Tapovan-Vishnugad, Vishnugad-Pipalkoti and Singoli-Bhatwari are further threatening the survival of this holy river adding to the damage already done by a number of existing dams. These are no less than ticking time bombs,” they wrote.
 
They added that they want the implementation of the ‘CPCB order dated December 06, 2016 issued vide letter no. PCI-SSI/direction-DM/SSP, Haridwar/2016 prohibiting mining and stone crushers within 5 km from either side of Ganga up to Raiwala 2, Bhogpur, Haridwar, up to Raighati and issue directions to halt.’
 
They also said that the spiritual charges from the Holy Shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri are being destroyed by the turbines of the existing hydropower projects at Vishnu Prayag, Srinagar, Maneri, Tehri and Koteshwar.
 
“Research by Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto has shown that water crystals of spiritually charged and free-flowing waters are of beautiful forms while those of negative thoughts and stagnant waters are of ugly forms. Research by Swiss organization Aqua Viva has shown that water upstream Tehri is spiritually charged and has a halo while downstream is without the halo,” they wrote.
 
Full text of the letter:
 
Subject: River Ganga is being put to rest- how many more sons of Ganga will have to pay with their lives to save Maa Ganga? – Depends on you.
 
Dear Sirs,
 
We congratulate the Hon’ble Prime Minister and yourself for taking a policy decision not to make new dams on the Ganga.
 
There is no debating that Ganga must flow free or will perish with all attendant ill consequences. This is vindicated by Ravi Chopra Committee in its report to the Supreme Court submitting that there has been an increase in disasters in Uttarakhand ever since the tragedy in 2013, due to the presence of big dams. Acknowledging this reality, the Union of India under your leadership pledged to rejuvenate the Ganga and its three tributaries namely Alaknanda, Mandakini and Bhagirathi.  
 
Presently, three under-construction dams namely Tapovan-Vishnugad, Vishnugad-Pipalkoti and Singoli-Bhatwari are further threatening the survival of this holy river adding to the damage already done by a number of existing dams. These are no less than ticking time bombs.
 
To save the holy Ganga, her sons have risen and stood up for her. Swami Saanand fasted for 111 days to draw the attention of the powers to be to its cries for survival before he succumbed unheeded. Carrying on the baton, Sant Gopaldas fasted for 146 days when he disappeared under suspicious circumstances unheard and unheeded. Presently the 26-year-old young Brahmachari Aatmabodhanand from Matri Sadan, Haridwar, has been on a fast since October 24, 2018, determined to carry on the baton for Ganga for a positive response.
 
The powers that be must immediately engage with them ensuring that every step necessary to sustain the river is taken proactively without any further loss of life of the sons of Ganga on chain Amaran Anshan for her.  
 
The Himalayas are rugged mountains. The tunnels being built for dams have been weakening the Himalaya Mountain. Landslides are on the rise. The spiritual charges from the Holy Shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri are being destroyed by the turbines of the existing hydropower projects at Vishnu Prayag, Srinagar, Maneri, Tehri and Koteshwar. Further, the water of the Holy River stagnates in the Tehri Reservoir and becomes dead without oxygen as established by the methane emissions recorded by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute.
 
Research by Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto has shown that water crystals of spiritually charged and free-flowing waters are of beautiful forms while those of negative thoughts and stagnant waters are of ugly forms. Research by Swiss organization Aqua Viva has shown that water upstream Tehri is spiritually charged and has a halo while downstream is without the halo.
 
The Government has notified that minimum 36 cumecs water will be released from Haridwar and 24 cumecs will be released from Narora. These e-flows are only 6 per cent of the flow at Haridwar and 3 per cent at Narora. This is inadequate considering that IIT Consortium has recommended about 50 per cent e-flows from hydropower projects.
 
To save our holy river let’s begin with:
 
1. Stopping the following dams under construction on Ganga at Tapovan-Vishnugad on Dhauli Ganga, Vishnugad-Pipalkoti on Alaknanda and Singoli-Bhatwari on Mandakini.
2.  Forthwith Implementing CPCB order dated December 06, 2016 issued vide letter no. PCI-SSI/direction-DM/SSP, Haridwar/2016 prohibiting mining and stone crushers within 5 km from either side of Ganga up to Raiwala 2, Bhogpur, Haridwar, up to Raighati and issue directions to halt.
3. Saints have and are sacrificing their lives in an unbroken chain of amaran anshan at Matri Sadan. The concerned authorities must immediately engage with them to resolve the demands.
 
The time to act is now for tomorrow will be too late.
 
We are the children of Maa Ganga sending you SOS for her: 
 
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan; Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, NAPM Odisha
Dr.Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, KisanSangharshSamiti, Rajkumar Sinha, Bargi Baandh Visthapit evam Prabhavit Sangh, NAPM, Madhya Pradesh
P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU, Ramakrishnam Raju, United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Meera Sanghamitra, Rajesh Serupally, NAPM Telangana – Andhra Pradesh
GautamBandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha;KaladasDahariya, RELAA, NAPM Chhattisgarh
Swami Agnivesh, Bandhua Mukti Morcha
Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); Kailash Meena, NAPM Rajasthan
Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party;Richa Singh, Sangatin; ArundhatiDhuru, Manesh Gupta, NAPM, Uttar Pradesh
Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai; Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation; Arul Doss, NAPM Tamilnadu
Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union; Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM, Karnataka
Vilayodi Venugopal, Prof. Kusumam Joseph, NAPM, Kerala
AnandMazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, ParyavaranSurakshaSamiti, NAPM Gujarat
VimalBhai, Matu Jan sangathan; Jabar Singh, NAPM, Uttarakhand
Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-MoolnivasiAstivtva Raksha Samiti; Basant Kumar Hetamsaria and Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand
Samar Bagchi, AmitavaMitra, NAPM West Bengal
Suniti SR, SuhasKolhekar, Prasad Bagwe, & Bilal Khan, GharBachaoGharBanaoAndolan, Mumbai NAPM Maharashtra
Faisal Khan, KhudaiKhidmatgar; J S Walia, NAPM Haryana
Guruwant Singh, NAPM Punjab
Kamayani Swami, AshishRanjan, Tanmay, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan; MahendraYadav, KosiNavnirmanManch; Sister Dorothy, Ujjawal Chaubey, NAPM Bihar
Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan SangharshVahini; Sunita Rani, Domestic Workers Union; Rajendra Ravi, Nanhu Prasad, Madhuresh Kumar, Amit Kumar, Himshi Singh, Uma, NAPM, Delhi
 

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