Activist Sant Gopaldas, on indefinite fast for Ganga conservation, goes missing from Dehradun hospital

Clean Ganga activist Sant Gopaldas, who has been on an indefinite fast for the conservation of the river, has gone missing from the Doon Hospital in Dehradun. Media reports said police officials were informed of the activist's sudden disappearance by hospital authorities on Wednesday.

Uttarakhand Police has launched a probe into the matter and trying to locate the activist. 

"We received info from Doon hospital in Dehradun that Gopaldas, who was admitted in the hospital had gone missing. We are looking at the CCTV footage & trying to find him," Circle Officer Chandra Mohan Singh told ANI. 

Gopaldas began his fast against mining in Ganga riverbed on June 24 at Triveni and Bag ghats of the river.

Earlier in October, Thirty six-year-old Gopaldas was admitted to AIIMS twice in a week after his health worsened. 

In October, veteran scientist-turned-seer GD Agarwal, also known as Sant Gyan Swarup Sanand, died after 112-days of fast-unto-death for Ganga.

Meanwhile, Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said 70 to 80 percent of the Ganga will be cleaned by the end of March.

Nearly Rs 26,000 crore are being spent on cleaning up the holy river that's highly polluted now, under the National Mission for Clean Ganga in association with the states, the minister said.

"By the end of March, 70-80 percent of the Ganga will be cleaned, and my feeling is that by March 2020, the river will be 100 percent clean," Gadkari said at the launch of a book, 'India Inspires: Redefining the Politics of Deliverance' here this evening.