Environmentalist threatens fast unto death

Charging the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) formed by the Centre to keep River Bhagirathi “alive” of being a farce and a conspiracy to destroy the Ganga, noted environmentalist Prof G D Agrawal has threatened to revive his fast unto death for the preservation of the river.

He had launched an agitation in June this year to protest against the construction of hydroelectric projects between Gangotri and Uttarkashi. Prof Agrawal said that he suspended his fast in June only after assurances by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde that nothing would be allowed to harm the Ganga.

He termed as “unfortunate” the constitution of the HLEG being left to Chairman and Managing Director of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) R S Sharma. He said Sharma hardly had any knowledge of rivers or the environment and had no real respect for the river Ganga. “His only concern is to maximise the production of electricity to promote his own service interests, even at the cost of serious environmental damages. That is all he has been doing all his life,” Prof Agrawal said in a statement.