Nitish to PM: Intervene to end Nalanda seer’s fast at Haridwar

PATNA/NALANDA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar has urged PM Narendra Modi to intervene to end the fast being observed by Sadhvi Padmavati, a 23-year-old seer from Bihar’s Nalanda district, at Haridwar to press for preservation of the Ganga and suspension of the hydroelectric projects on the sacred river in Uttarakhand.
Nitish shot off a letter to the PM on Thursday, requesting him to initiate steps to end the fast being observed by Padmavati since December 15 last year.The CM said the health condition of Padmavati might deteriorate in the days to come.
Maintaining that the Ganga must be left to flow unhindered, the CM reminded the PM he had shared his views with him on this issue several times. He also reminded the PM of the conferences organized in Patna and New Delhi in February and May in 2017 to address the issue.
While the first conference was held in Patna on February 25 and February 26, 2017 on ‘Aviral Ganga’, the second one was organized in New Delhi on ‘Ganga ki aviralta mein badhak gaad: Samashya evam samadhan’ on May 18 and May 19, 2017. Noted river water conservation experts from across the country had attended the two conferences. Two separate resolutions – ‘Patna Resolution’ and ‘Delhi Resolution’ – were also passed after the conferences.
Nitish said the two resolutions were later sent to the Union water conversation ministry for necessary action. The CM hoped that the PM would initiate steps to address the issues raised by Padmavati and end her fast. “I am aware of your commitment and sincere efforts to ensure the natural and unhindered flow of the river,” he added.
On Wednesday, the CM had sent JD(U) MP from Nalanda Kaushlendra Kumar and water resources department minister Sanjay Jha to Haridwar to provide urgent medical and other assistances to Padmavati. Matri Sadan at Haridwar, where Padmavati is observing the fast, is the place where activist Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand had breathed his last following 112 days of his fast-unto-death on October 11, 2018. Sanand had begun his fast on June 22, 2018.
An Alwar based-organisation, Tarun Bharat Sangh, had recently appealed to Nitish to intervene in the matter and save Padmavati’s life.
Sant Kumar, father of Padmavati and resident of Badi Malama village in Nalanda district, said his daughter is a follower of Matri Sadan in Haridwar. He said Padmavati, who had earlier sat on dharna in Varanasi for the cause of preservation and protection of the Ganga, started her fast-unto-death this time after the central government and National Green Tribunal (NGT) failed to respond to her demand of legislation for preservation and free flow of the Ganga and suspension of hydel projects being carried out in Haridwar.