HARIDWAR: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wants white water rafting in the Ganga, one of Uttarakhand’s most popular sporting activities, banned as it gives rise to “obscene activities” on riverbanks. On the concluding day of a two-day meeting of its national advisory board in Haridwar on Tuesday, the VHP leaders said the adventure sport also “led to many illegal activities” in the holy town of Rishikesh.They alleged that young people of both sexes come to these rafting camps, “mingle, drink and indulge in objectionable activities on the banks of the holy river, where sadhus and sants gather to meditate”.According to official sources, Rishikesh draws more than 4 lakh adventure tourists from across the country every year. There are three main river rafting stretches here — Lakshman Jhula to Rishkesh (26 km) Mala Kunti to Rishikesh (26 km) and Shivpuri to Rishikesh (18 km). There are around 320 firms organizing rafting activities in Rishikesh, run by 137 operators (many of them running multiple firms). Tourism department levies an annual fee of Rs 5,000 on all these operators, thus earning a revenue of Rs 16 lakh annually. According to an estimate, there are at least three times more such firms in Rishikesh, which run rafting activities without any permit.On Monday, the seers at the VHP meet had also adopted a resolution on saving the holy river. Praising the Narendra Modi-led Central government for launching Namami Gange project for rejuvenation of the river in October 2014, they appealed to the government to take serious steps for preventing factories and cities along the holy river from discharging their sewage into the holy river.Expressing concern at the falling number of cattle, the VHP leaders also demanded enactment of a stringent law to ban cow slaughter across the country.Regarding construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, VHP leaders asked its supporters to “keep patience in the Modi government, which is moving in the right direction”.VHP international general secretary Champat Rai told TOI, “At the valedictory session, the issue of Ram Temple came up for discussion. Krishnacharya (Rishikesh), Dharma Das (Ayodhya), Vivekanand (Meerut) and Govind Giri (Pune) were among those who spoke. They asserted that the Union government is moving in the right direction and there is nothing to warrant impatience of any kind.”