Rally to protest Ganga pollution

A rally consisting of sadhus, saints and people — carrying boards of Ganga bachao, Ganga hamari mata hai — on the banks of Godavari in Nashik demanded the cleaning of the river Ganga, on Thursday. The Ganga Raksha Manch organised a peace rally to protest against the pollution caused to the Ganges, and had presented a memorandum to the district collector for this purpose.

Among those who participated in the rally — that moved across the city — were members of Bajarang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), along with sadhus, saints and people, from in and around Nashik and Trimbakeshwar.  Swami Sagaranand, president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, who led the rally said, “The Ganges holds a very importance place in the culture, religion, tradition, and lives of the people of India.

However, this pious river has been polluted so much so that, as it reaches Prayag, that it is left with only 2% water from the Ganges, while the remaining 98% is made up of waste. This has to be stopped immediately and so we have demanded that the government takes specific actions to clean the river.”

Stating the importance of river Ganges, Swami Sagaranand said that since the new dam on the river Ganges has been built, the water flowing in the river through Haridwar has become impure due to the industries on either side discharging their impurities. There are sugar factories, chemical industries and even leather industries that are polluting the water. “Not only has this diluted the religious significance of this river, but has also endangered the health of the people who use the water for domestic purposes, and also for those who revere it. The Ganga is our nation’s pride and we need to save it, “he said.