Sharat Pradhan | June, 2002

A sadhu and ecologist, Swami Sundaranand has lived alongside Gangotri for over half a century. He was the first to point out that Gangotri Glacier is retreating.

A few years back, this saffron-clad septuagenarian captured the attention of the world with his findings about the glacier.

He still has a lot to relate.

	Swami Sundaranand: Gangotri Crusader

"Over the past five years or so, the Gangotri glacier has annually receded at a rate of nearly 10 metres," Sundaranand told me in a recent interview. He wonders what would happen to the holy river if the factors responsible for this state of affairs are not immediately arrested. Glaciology experts at the Geological Survey of India have since been engaged in more intensified studies to find ways and means of halting this alarming trend.

The Swami expressed his deep concern about the environment in and around the source of the Ganga, which also was one of his favourite trekking haunts.

Gangotri Glacier: Receding almost 10 meters annually

"We can't do much about the natural phenomenon of global warming that's taking its toll on the entire Himalayan belt. But surely, we're in a position to put an end to the unabated denudation of forests and the increasing dumping of muck and local sewage into the highly revered river close to its very source."

The Swami was referring to the blatant unchecked growth of ashrams and all the way from Gangotri to the Ganga source at Goumukh 18 km upstream. "Only 4 km short of Goumukh, a huge ashram sprung up to accommodate as many as 400 persons at a time. And do you know where all the drainage and sewage of the toilets is dumped? Right into the mainstream of the otherwise pristine waters of the Ganga."

That was besides the 100-odd ashrams and scores of hotels that mushroomed all over Gangotri, that also spew their sewage into the river.

Shrinking glacier
According to the sadhu, "When I came to Gangotri in 1948, the mouth of the Ganga (Goumukh) was at a considerable distance from where it is today. It has also shrunk substantially in its thickness."

The issue might be a favoured topic for closed-door discussions at high-profile seminars in Delhi. But back in Gangotri, nothing concrete has emerged so far. Amidst the lip service by successive governments, all that happened was the creation of Gangotri Area Development Authority, which exists only on paper. Meantime, millions have been sunk into the so-called Ganga Action Plan, but nobody had attacked the root of the problem-mushrooming of ashrams and hotels, along with felling of trees.

Sundaranand's bid to speak out against all this has often annoyed the local pandas (riverside priests), who even went to the extent of ransacking his modest cottage. "I didn't mind the destruction of my cameras. But what hurt me most was the irreparable loss of prized photographs of the Himalayas," he said.

	Gangotri Temple: Will the beautification plan be ever implemented?

Meantime, the High Court in 1997 directed the Garhwal divisional commissioner to personally trek from Gangotri to Goumukh. The idea was to get a first-hand account of the damage done to the local environment. Five years later, the directive has still not been carried out. Although heads of successive governments and many other dignitaries have been traditionally making a beeline for this shrine every year, it was only Uttar Pradash Governor Moti Lal Vora who took note of the shabby state of affairs in Gangotri. He even got a scheme drawn up for the beautification of this temple town, but has anybody followed up on this?

When this writer drew the attention of Uttaranchal chief minister N.D.Tiwari to the degradation of Gangotri, he said, "Well, I am going to look seriously into this," even as he felt "There is need for larger public opinion to be mobilised on the issue."

Bye bye Ganga?
Geologists do not rule out the possibility of the holiest and greatest of all Indian rivers doing a vanishing act in coming years. "The first ever scientific study on Gangotri glacier was carried out in 1842 by the British scientists, Hogson and Herbert. According to their writings, the source of Ganga was shown at a spot that was some two kilometres downstream of today's Goumukh, says Sundaranand.

If the glacier could recede two kilometres over some 150 years, the future may be gloomy for the mother of all Indian rivers.


Sharat Pradhan is a Lucknow-based freelance journalist.