Matri Sadan seer to resume fast agitation against mining

Citing immense damage being done to the Ganga riverbed and ecology due to quarrying, Matri Sadan founder Swami Shivanand Saraswati on Saturday announced to resume his fast unto death agitation on February 3.

Swami Shivanand is demanding total prohibition on quarrying in the Ganga riverbed from Raiwala till Bhogpur besides ban on stone crushers operating with 5-km periphery of the river.

Notably, the seer started his agitation on December 16, and later gave up agitation temporarily on assurance of the district administrative on January 13.

Seeing no major sign or move from the state government and the district administration on implementation of total prohibition on quarrying following directives from the high court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the seer decided to again resort to agitation mode.

Swami Shivanand said river water pollution has increased drastically and negative impact of mass scale quarrying are easily visible on the riverbed.

Brahmachari Dayanand said they would soon apprise the NGT about the violation of tribunal directives as well as illegal quarrying being done on large scale in the district.