Thursday, January 22, 2009

Press Release - 22.01.2009

For Immediate Release

PRESS RELEASE
January 22, 2009
Government of India’s decision to declare the Ganga as the national river is a farce: Dr. G.D. Agrawal
New Delhi, January 22, 2009: Renowned environmentalist Dr. G.D. Agarwal’s fast-unto-death for putting an immediately halt to all construction activities on the 600 MW Lohari Nag Pala Hydropower Project in Uttarakhand, continued for the ninth day on January 22, 2009.
In a statement issued today, Dr. Agrawal termed as “farce”, the Centre’s decision to declare the Ganga as the National River. He said the government has not come up with any notification to match its announcement nor it has initiated any official activity in connection with the matter.
Dr. Agrawal, while interacting with media persons at Akhil Bhartiya Mahasabha Bhawan, Delhi, the site of his fast-unto death, said that the government, in order to show its sincerity in the matter of declaring the Ganga as the National River, had merely handed it over to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
Meanwhile, ever increasing number of people are visiting Dr. Agrawal at Akhil Bhartiya Mahasabha Bhawan, Delhi, to express their support to him. Among those who visited Dr. Agrawal today include “Waterman of India” Rajendra Singh, noted Supreme Court Lawyer Prashant Bhushan and his wife Deepa Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal (Magsaysay award winner), Structural Engineer Dr. K.S. Chawla, Ms. Priya Patel (Arya Vihar, Uttarkashi), Ms. Shashi Tyagi of Jal Biradari, Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan’s national chief Acharya Jitendra and its national secretary Mr. Rakesh Dubey, Mr. Rakesh Agarwal, (Nyayabhumi), Kailash Tiwari, Prem Dhingra and Mahesh Dubey (all from Bhopal), Mr. Diwan Singh of Natural Heritage Trust, Pani Baba Arun Kumar and Dr. Ravi Chopra, Director People’s Science Institute, Dehradun. Besides, a large number of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, also met Dr. Agarwal and expressed their support for the cause.

For further information, please contact: Anil Gautam-0135-2762516, 9412176896Pavitra Singh 011-32088803, 9410706109

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