The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has planned a large-scale movement for purification of the Ganga. To achieve this cause, VHP has also planned to include Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev in this movement. Baba Ramdev has already expressed his concern over the polluted water of the Ganga.
According to the Yoga Guru the Ganga is lifeline of the population of plane regions, but its water is so polluted that in the long run it will become death line for the same population. Since Baba Ramdev has the international following if he raises this issue jointly with the VHP, the movement for the purification of the Ganga will be as successful as the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. The VHP has chalked out a plan for the movement. It will hold a meeting at Patanjali Yoga Peeth, Haridwar, in third week of June. The meeting will be attended by Shri Ashok Singhal, Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Swami Chinmayanand and Swami Hansdas Maharaj. The Haridwar meet will provide basic ground for the future movement for the cause of the Ganga. After that meet, VHP will meet in Kanpur for further planning from June 25 to June 30.
The lifeline of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, the Ganga is suffering from acute pollution, especially in the plane regions. Even its origin, Gangotri, also has got polluted to some extent. For its purification, the Ganga Action Plan was started 23 years ago in 1985. The first phase was to be completed within 6-7 years but red tapism and corrupt system have been the main hurdles in the path of the purification of the Ganga. The first phase was not completed even by 2004, and in between, the second phase was started in 1993. In this phase, purification of the Yamuna, the Gomati and the Damodar was also the part of the plan. The second phase was to be completed by 2000 but that did not complete. Now the compliance period of the Ganga Action Plan is 2008 but now it seems that it shall not be completed within this period. The Ganga, especially in Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi is highly polluted. By the way, these are the religious places of Hindus. Bithoor in Kanpur is a teerthsthal for Hindus but the water is neither suitable for drinking nor for taking a bath in the Ganga. Jajmau of Kanpur, where so many leather factories are situated, is the main cause of this pollution. The same position prevails in Allahabad and Varanasi. In Allahabad Rs 60 crore have been spent in the two phases but in vain. In Varanasi, from where the Ganga Action Plan was started, the Ganga is in very miserable condition. Crores of rupees have been spent but without any result.
