G.D. AGARWAL

Oct. 21, 2018

G.D. Agarwal, a well-known crusader for the Ganga river, died of a heart attack at the age of 86 on the 112th day of a fast that began in June to protest against the government’s inadequate efforts at cleaning the Ganga.

About:

He had adopted the name Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, and was formerly a professor in the civil engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
As an environmentalist, he was vocal about disallowing hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand along the Ganga and was disappointed with the Central and Uttarakhand governments for not doing enough to protect the river.
He was also the first Member-Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board.
His contributions: He observed several fasts over the years. These resulted in the –
- Establishment of the National Ganga River Basin Authority
- Establishment of the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone
- Creation of concepts such as ecological flow (the necessity to maintain a minimum quantity of water in a river at all times) while planning for hydro-electric projects.
His latest demands:
- A trigger for his fast this year was the “unfulfilled” promises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had vowed to clean the Ganga after winning the Varanasi seat.
- Bringing the Ganga Act into law was one of Agarwal’s key demands as were instructions to give legal standing to the Ganga Bhakti Parishad, which would have supreme power to decide on matters of the river.
- He had also sought a ban on all proposed dams on the upper reaches of the Ganga and on sand mining along the river.