Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee called UP Chief Minister Mayawati over the telephone last night and asked her to have the Sangam ghat at Allahabad cleansed. Official sources told The Indian Express here today that Mayawati has directed the officials to take immediate follow-up action and send a compliance report to her and the PMO within a week. The issue has had Hindu sadhus agitating since Makar Sankranti on January 14, but things came to a head on Mauni Amavasya on February 1 when they refused to take a dip in the Ganga to register their protest against the authorities’ failure in checking pollution of the river at Allahabad. The level of water at the ghat, according to them, was low, besides being extremely dirty. Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi had requested the Prime Minister for an immediate intervention for cleansing of the river during their meeting at the latter’s residence. Though the agenda at the meeting was the resolution of the Ayodhya dispute, the seer used the opportunity to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to the Ganga issue. The sadhus, led by Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarka and Goverdhanpeeth Shankarcharya Nishchalanand Saraswati of Puri, had declared after abstaining from taking a dip at Allahabad that they would take more stringent steps if the authorities failed to control pollution of the river. Guru Bachan Das, mahant of the Kabir Ashram of Allahabad, has filed a public interest petition seeking mandamus directing the authorities to take prompt measures to prevent pollution.
