Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has demanded a complete ban on construction along the banks of the Ganga. He has also threatened to launch a nationwide campaign if the Government goes ahead with the Ganga Expressway project. "The proposed large-scale construction under the Ganga Expressway project along the banks of the river will severely strain the already endangered holy river which is not only a life-line for crores of Indians but also a subject of faith,' he said on Sunday.

NEW DELHI:: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has demanded a complete ban on construction along the banks of the Ganga. He has also threatened to launch a nationwide campaign if the Government goes ahead with the Ganga Expressway project. "The proposed large-scale construction under the Ganga Expressway project along the banks of the river will severely strain the already endangered holy river which is not only a life-line for crores of Indians but also a subject of faith,' he said on Sunday.

Retired IIT Kanpur professor G D Agarwal is currently on a hunger strike against the proposed construction of more dams on the Bhagirathi-Ganga. Sunday Times reports on his struggle

Yoga guru Swami Ramdev will now play a key role in the campaign to save the Ganga river, which is being spearheaded by the Ganga Raksha Manch. The Yoga guru and other sadhus participating in the campaign to save the Ganga will use the mala (garland) and the bhala (trident) to convince people to join in. "With the mala, we will welcome people to contribute and do shramdaan in the campaign and with the bhala we will impress upon them the cultural, religious and national significance of the Ganga river," a spokesman of the Ganga Raksha Manch told this correspondent on Friday.

Environmentalists and social activists led by G D Aggarwal are headed for Delhi to continue with their campaign against construction of power projects between Gangotri and Uttarkashi. After the Uttarakhand Government decided to halt work on the Pala Maneri and Bhiron Ghati projects, the campaigners are now targeting the 600-mw Lohari Nagpala project being executed by the National Thermal Power Corporation. Aggarwal's fast unto death entered its 10th day on Sunday when he left the Manikarnika ghats of Uttarkashi to shift base to Delhi.

Rajeev Khanna Dehradun : The BJP has embarked upon a special programme to regain its hold over the Hindi belt. The party is galvanising its cadres in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Kalraj Mishra told The Indian Express that an exercise has been undertaken to identify the voters at the block levels and to hold voter sammelans. The party has also started organising training camps for its workers so that they can convey the party message to the people.

Efforts to save the Ganga got another fillip on Wednesday, with sadhus from Rishikesh and Haridwar, including yoga guru Baba Ramdev, joining the fight and declaring the formation of the Ganga Raksha Manch. Ramdev, while launching his nationwide movement to save the Ganga, warned:

The Save Ganga Movement, which began with a fast unto death by a former IIT professor, may turn into a major political issue ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. After more than 30 Hindutva outfits supported the movement, Baba Ramdev announced the formation of the Ganga Raksha Manch at Haridwar on Tuesday. Although it was said that the manch would not be affiliated to any political party, the presence of senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia raises many questions.

Missile man and former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, in the role of an environmentalist, has called upon Delhites to be involved in cleaning of the city's lifeline, Yamuna river. The ex-president is a man of his own stature and thinks very deeply. These days Dr Kalam is busy in social works. As regards the river Yamuna, it has been polluted from whereever it is flowing, near Kanpur, Allahabad and Agra by industrial units established there as also the people living there. Near Kanpur Dehat, the dirty water from leather factories is drained in the river.

By Rashme Sehgal June 16: Prof. G.D. Aggarwal, who is sitting on a fast unto death in Uttarkashi from June 13, fears the construction of six hydel projects on the upper Ganga between the Gangotri glacier and Uttarkashi will see a drying-up of the river for over a 50-km stretch.