Another Ganga activist taken to hospital

RISHIKESH: Two days after Ganga activist GD Agarwal died at AIIMS, another person fasting for conservation of the river was rushed to the premier institute early on Saturday.

Thirty-six years old Sant Gopal Das had been fasting for 110 days. He stopped drinking water three days ago.

Gopal Das was shifted within hours of announcing that he will sit on agitation at Matri Sadan, where Agarwal was fasting before he passed away.

Teams of the local administration and medical personnel arrived at Matri Sadan ashram early morning and shifted Das, who was sleeping at the time, in to an ambulance and took him to AIIMS, Rishikesh.

Late in the evening, Das’s health deteriorated and complained of indigestion after which his followers informed administrative officials, urging them to admit him in hospital.

Das began his fast against min- ing in the Ganga river bed first in Badrinath and has been fasting at Triveni and Bag ghats of the Ganga in Rishikesh since June 24, his follower Arvind Hatwal said at AIIMS.

“Sant Gopal Das will continue and take forward the agitation of late Swami Sanand (the alias of Agarwal’s), [but] due to a deterioration of his health we thought it is better to admit him for medical treatment” said a follower of Das.

The activist is currently being treated at the endocrinology ward of AIIMS, Rishikesh, acting medical superintendent of the institute Brijendra Singh told reporters, PTI reported.

Das was suffering from dehydration, Meenakshi Dhar, who heads the team of doctors attending to him at the institute, said.

His sugar level had come down to 65. Though he refused to eat anything or undergo medical treatment, he is being given intravenous fluids. The administration has given permission to AIIMS authorities to take any measures they deem fit to save Das’s life including force-feeding.