Coinciding with the second death anniversary of the Swami, he is on fast-unto-death for the fifth time Environmentalist Professor G.D. Agrawal (81), baptised as Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand in July 2011, started a fast-unto-death at Matri Sadan ashram here on Thursday. This day was chosen for commencing the fast as it marked the second death anniversary of Swami Nigmanand, who reportedly succumbed to organophosphate poisoning after 72 days of fast-unto-death on June 13, 2011. Swami Nigmanand, like Prof. Agrawal, was on fast to attract the government’s attention towards taking steps that would maintain the sanctity and purity of the Ganga. This is the fifth time that Prof. Agrawal is on a fast-unto-death. Before this, he sat on such fasts in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. This fast is to compel the government to scrap the power projects on the Alaknanda and the Mandakini rivers as the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), has “failed to inspire any hope” to conserve the Ganga, according to Prof. Agrawal. “From the experience I can say that I have no faith either in the government or in the judiciary,” he said. Matri Sadan along with movements like Ganga Ahvaan, Mandakini Bachao Abhiyan, and Indian Parliamentary Forum have come together to campaign for conservation of the Ganga. In the name of Run of the River schemes, the Bhagirathi, the Mandakini, and the Alaknanda have been tunnelled for hundreds of kilometres, resulting in dry rivers. Hemant Dhyani of the Ganga Ahvaan campaign said: “If proper cost-benefit analysis was done, the cost of biodiversity because of mining and damming of the Ganga, would outdo the benefits achieved.” Moreover, the reply to an RTI plea filed by Mr. Dhyani states that the efficiency of the Tehri dam is below 30 per cent. ‘Siltation’ and ‘less flow during winters’ were the reasons stated for the low efficiency of the dam. “The dams are being built at the cost of land sinking, destruction of biodiversity, and migration of rural population,” he added.