Agarwal, 86, was a pioneer in the field of environmental engineering and had a PhD from University of Berkeley.
Veteran environmental activist GD Agarwal, also known as also known as Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand in his later years, was an indefatigable warrior who championed for the protection of Ganga. He was truly dedicated to the cause, people who worked with him and knew him said after news of his passing away due to a heart attack began making the rounds.
Agarwal, 86, was a pioneer in the field of environmental engineering and had a PhD from University of Berkeley. He was the head of department, department of civil and environmental engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and later went on to become the first member secretary of Central Pollution Control Board in the late 1970s.
On numerous occasions in the past, Agarwal successfully used fasting as a tool of protest. In 2010, he sat on a fast to halt the construction of the 600 MW Lohari Nagpala hydel project that was being constructed on Bhagirathi river, one of Ganga's two headstreams. At the time, he went on a fast for 38-days and the then union government ceded to his demand and scrapped the project.
Then in 2012, Agarwal sat on another fast for over 60-days against the Manmohan Singh government's apathy on Ganga cleaning. He had said that the National Ganga River Basin Authority, which stands dissolved currently, was dormant despite having a mandate to protect the river from pollution. The government buckled and decided to hold a meeting of the authority after a gap of 18 months to chalk out plans.
After his sanyas in 2011, he associated with Matri Sadan, founded in 1997 with the primary purpose of saving Ganga. This ashram was the same where before Sanand, Swami Nigamananda Saraswati, too, had died following a fast of over 67-days to stop mining in Ganga.
"I knew him and his commitment for the cause was unbelievable and steadfast. He was fighting for a giant cause and actually got the government to stop construction on large hydropower projects that were threatening to reduce Ganga's flow upstream. He was also instrumental in getting the government to declare the stretch between Gaumukh and Uttarkashi an eco-sensitive zone to protect it from unplanned development," said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator, South Asian Network on Dams, River and People.
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