E-Paper
No holy dip, vow sants
About 350 prominent sants camping in the Magh Mela area took a vow on Sunday not to take a dip in the Ganga water till clean water was released from Narora dam. Up in arms against the administration's apathy in providing pure water in the Ganga during the ongoing Magh Mela, these sants went to the river bank near pontoon bridge number three this morning and took a vow by holding the river water in their palms. Thereafter, they returned from there without taking a bath in protest.
About 350 prominent sants camping in the Magh Mela area took a vow on Sunday not to take a dip in the Ganga water till clean water was released from Narora dam.
Up in arms against the administration's apathy in providing pure water in the Ganga during the ongoing Magh Mela, these sants went to the river bank near pontoon bridge number three this morning and took a vow by holding the river water in their palms. Thereafter, they returned from there without taking a bath in protest.
Prominent among them were Joytishpeethadheeshwar Jagatguru Vasudevanand Saraswati, Shankaracharya Kashi Sumerupeeth Swami Narendranand, Swami Sadanand Saraswati, disciple of Karpatriji, Swami Vimal Deo representing Akhil Bhartiya Dandi Swami Sabha and Swami Hari Chaitanya Brahmachari of Teekarmafi.
Following the vow, the sants went to the Teekarmafi camp in the vicinity and chalked out their future course of action. Fax messages regarding the vow and why they were protesting were sent to the President of India, Prime Minister, Vice President, Chief Minister and the State Governor.
The sants also threatened to wind up their camps if the government failed to take a positive step in this direction by January 25.
Lashing out at the nonchalance of the State Government towards the sensitive issue of Ganga, Swami Hari Chaitanya Brahmachari of Teekarmafi said, Ganga water and bassil leaves are poured in the mouth of a dying Hindu because of its capacity to fight bacteria but with the highly polluted Ganga water people will be forced to stop this ritual, he lamented.
He thanked the district magistrate and the commissioner for cautioning the people against drinking the Ganga water. By issuing a press statement both the officials in a way have put a seal on the fact of the impurity of the Ganga water, he added. He said that dirty water from factories in Badaun, Dhampur, Farrukhabad, Ramnagar, Kanpur and Unnao was being discharged continuously into the holy Ganga to make it more impure.
To carry their protest further the saints decided to meet at the Ashram of Swami Vasudevanand on January 16. Such meetings will continue till January 22. The final decision will be taken on January 25, he said.
