Source: Associate Press Worldstream
LUCKNOW, INDIA, January 17, 2003 : Hundreds of Hindu holy men and devotees observed a sit-in along the banks of the Ganges River to protest the increasing pollution of the waterway that is sacred to Hindus. Lucknow, a pilgrimage site for millions of Hindus, is located at the spot where the Ganges River merges with the Yamuna. The protesters demanded that more water be released from the Narora Dam upstream to flush out the pollution and raise the river level for tens of thousands of devotees who were expected to bathe in the Ganges near Allahabad. “Not only is the water polluted, it is not enough. How can millions of people take a dip in this water?” said Abhay Chaitanya, a Hindu priest organizing the protest.