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Citizens For Green Doon organized “An Evening dedicated to Ganga” in which issues related to Ganga were discussed through songs, poem, talk and theater.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Nitin Pandey said Ganga is the soul of India and was now on the verge of extinction. The Gangotri glacier was shrinking at a never before rate and the river was being diverted into long dark tunnels to generate power. Large stretches of the river were already without water. He said that if the dam making spree continued unchecked, the very existence of the river will be in danger and “taking a dip in Ganga” will only be a proverb for future generations as there will be no Ganga. He condemned the recent decision of the Central Government to give a green signal to the controversial Loharinag Pala Dam and said that it would sound a death knell for Ganga. A play, ‘Ruk Jaao’ written and directed by renowned theatre activist, Alok Ulfat was staged depicting the disruption in the lives of villagers by building of a dam and raised several important issues. Based on Village Batun, in the Gori Ganga Valley of Uttarakhand, which will be submerged by an NTPC project in the area, the play revives memories of Tehri. Participating in the play were Neelam Baukhandi, Ira Chauhan, Jatin Negi, Archit Bhatt, Deepak Dhiman, Naina Sharma, Paridhi Baloni, Rohit Latiyan, Sagar Walia, Subham Semwal, Shridhar Sharma, Surbhi Kumari, Surbhi Sain Jain & Yamini Negi.
Vimal Bhai from Matu People’s Organization, based in Pinder Valley, said that before constructing new dams the Government must bring out a White Paper on the dams already constructed, giving details of how much of what was claimed by the government has been achieved. He said that there is virtually no monitoring of the way construction was going on at dam sites and environmental laws were being flouted openly. He condemned the decision of the Government to overrule the recommendations of the Environment Ministry and go ahead with the Loharinag Pala dam. Hemant Dhyani from Uttarkashi based Ganga Ahvaan, said that by constructing dams on Ganga the government was destroying the cultural and spiritual heritage of our Nation and the dam construction spree was more out of personal monetary benefits rather than Nation building. He said this amounted to “cultural anti national activity” and the people would not forgive the people involved in it. Hemant said that the government was purposely ignoring the environmental destruction caused by these dams in its quest to build as many as possible. He strongly condemned the decision of the Central Government to allow work on the Laharinag Pala Dam and said that Ganga Ahvaan would go to the people on this issue.
Dr Rakesh Baloni presented a poem lamenting the drowning of Tehri and the threat to the ancient and renowned Dhari Devi, due to construction of a dam at Srinagar.
A surprise last minute inclusion in the show, was a song sung by Carlos, from Germany. Based on the famous song "Set it free" by Beatles, he sang "Bahney Do", a call to free Ganga. And amazingly, he called the river "Ganga" and not "Ganges". The audience simply loved it.
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