Questions are being raised over the state government and the forest department sanctioning the felling of over 15,000 trees - like jacaranda, fir and gulmohur -- ostensibly for the widening of the

The government has planned 600 dams on the Ganga and its tributaries. So how can it be serious about saving the holy river, asks Brijesh Pandey

Swami Nigamananda.

IT is 6 p.m. A couple of Hindu priests and a few men and women wait at the Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the Bhagirathi, as the Ganga is known in the pilgrim town of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand. Their heads are turned anxiously in the direction of the river upstream.

The Bhagirathi is made to run through a tunnel in Uttarkashi, evoking strong protests from environmentalists.

IT is 6 p.m. A couple of Hindu priests and a few men and women wait at the Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the Bhagirathi, as the Ganga is known in the pilgrim town of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand. Their heads are turned anxiously in the direction of the river upstream.

Rubble from the landslide that occurred 10 months ago on the Varunavat mountain in Uttarkashi threatens to swamp the town during this monsoon.

Debris on the slope of the crumbling Varunavat mountain. Uttarkashi town is seen at the foothills.