Varanasi: A saint, who claimed to be Peethadheeshwar (head) of the Kashi Mahashamsan Peeth and was on fast for over a month seeking clean and uninterrupted flow of water in the Ganga river, passed away early on Friday morning at a hospital here. Nagnath Yogeshwar had earlier claimed that he had observed fast for 1,000 days starting July 19, 2008, for the sake of a clean Ganga.
He had broken the fast on intervention of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav in 2011. Yogeshwar was demanding aviral-nirmal (continuous and uninterrupted) flow of the river from the Gangotri to Ganga Sagar.
Nagnath Yogeshwar was “forcibly” admitted by the district administration to a government hospital due to his deteriorating health condition as he was on fast, said Vikas Chandra, a relative. On Thursday, after the his condition worsened, Nagnath was referred to BHU’s Sir Sunder Lal hospital and at 1.45 am on Friday, here, he breathed his last.
Yogeshwar was demanding that all sorts of hurdles, interrupting the free flow of the river water, should be removed and the sacred river be saved from pollution. He also protested against the construction of dams on the river for hydro-projects in Uttarakhand and was against the construction of the Tehri Dam.
