US razes dams while India raises embankments: Medha

KANPUR: Expressing her displeasure at no marked difference in the quality of Ganga water, Medha Patkar, a social activist, said that a huge sum of 22 thousand crore rupees has been spent so far on the river cleaning but the end result remains the same. She was interacting with the media persons while her stint at IIT here.

She also added that none lent assisting hand to Prof GD Agarwal of Indian Institue of Technology who devoted his whole life into making the river clean. His fellows could not be proved as much helpful.

Drawing the attention she stated Swami Atmabodhanad had been staging Dharna in support of the Ganga for the past 130 days but the government has yet not contacted him. She remained critical of raising dams one after another in the country.

Our country should learn a lesson from America which has demolished more than 100 dams to maintain the unrestrained flow of its rivers, she stressed.

Narmada Bachchao Andlan champion urged the IITians to develop a technology that could help the people at the lowest level of the society.

She pointed out that balance between technology and social ecology must be maintained for the betterment of the society. Environment and development should go side by side.