PM Modi condoles G. D. Agarwal's death

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed his condolences over the death of environmentalist and a stout activist for the River Ganga, G. D. Agarwal.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Prime Minister Modi said, "Saddened by the demise of Shri GD Agarwal Ji. His passion towards learning, education, saving the environment, particularly Ganga cleaning will always be remembered. My condolences."

Earlier today, the Congress hit out at the Prime Minister Modi-led central government over Agarwal's death, alleging that it did not do enough under the 'Namai Gange Programme' and also ignored Agarwal's indefinite-fast.

"Is it not true that Ganga is more polluted in Varanasi today than it was in 2014? Is it not true that Ganga has become 334 times more polluted in BJP ruled states of Bihar and UP today as compared to 2014? Is it not true that in Namami Gange in which 22,000 crore rupees were to be sanctioned, not even one-fourth has been spent. Is Namai Gange also a jumla for Modi government? They should wake up from the sacrifice of GD Agarwal to pay attention to at least one promise that they made to Mother Ganga," Surjewala said.

Agarwal, 86, was on fast since June 22 and had also given up drinking water on Wednesday. Before his death, he wrote a letter alleging that the Haridwar administration officials forcibly shifted him from his protest site to AIIMS, Rishikesh, where he passed away after suffering a heart attack.