Accusing the central government of not living up to its words after the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) meeting last month, activists plan to launch yet another mass agitation from Varanasi from May 21.

“It has been more than 25 days since the last NGRBA meet took place where prime minister Manmohan Singh chaired the meeting, but government is insensitive about the demands of activists to save the river Ganga,” said Rajendra Singh, noted water conservationist and Magsaysay award winner.

“Since the government is not doing anything concrete, we plan to launch another mass agitation from Varanasi on May 21,” said Singh in New Delhi addressing a press conference. “We will also decide when to launch protest in New Delhi.”

Responding to a question on whether yoga guru Ramdev and Anna Hazare would participate in the campaign, Singh said, "The protest is open to anyone who feels for the cause."

Singh accused the newly elected chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav of making a u-turn on the issue of Ganga Express Highway project. “When he was out of power, he supported our cause for not making express highway near the river. But after he assumed charge, he started supporting the project,” said Singh, also known as the ‘waterman’.

He added, “There should ne no encroachment and no mining. A halt should be put on all ongoing dam projects.” Singh said that draft Ganga lok bill is ready and has been handed over to the prime minister for his response. The water activist also demanded a new commission for the river that works and monitors round-the-clock and National River Act to save Ganga.

“Two meetings have taken place since NGRBA was constituted in 2009. The prime minister seems to have no time to save the national river as it is dying,” said Pramod Krishnam, a member of Ganga Mukti Mahasangram, which will launch the agitation this month.

“Some of the activists have started fast since May 7 for the cause in Varanasi but the government has not listened to them. Their condition has deteriorated now as the activists have shunned drinking water, too,” added Krishnam.

He said that there should not be any new project on Ganga as the water has got decreased over the years.

The river is 2,510 km long and provides sustenance to 45 crore people in several north Indian states and Bangladesh.

Revered by the Hindus, the river needs cleaning. The government plans to pump in Rs 15,000 crore to be spent in the next 10 years in efforts to check pollution in the river. In 2011, India got a $1 billion loan from the World Bank to finance the first major clean-up phase.