A long and dusty road along the Ganga leads to the Matri Sadan ashram located in Jagjitpur village, some distance away from Haridwar city. Two policemen lounge outside the gates — perhaps the only indicator of the ashram’s ‘activist’ tag. For over 18 years, its sadhus have battled illegal mining on the Ganga riverbed. In the process, they have faced barbs, attacks, and have even lost lives.As the sun casts its last shadows on the Ganga, Swami Shivanand , the ashram’s 70-year-old founder, walks into the verandah. He recently ended a 20-day fast, which he observed to protest the state government’s alleged inaction on the issue even though the National Green Tribunal, taking cognizance of the ashram’s complaint, had recently ordered a curb on all illegal mining in the area.The swami is a frail man and occasionally his voice fades to a whisper. His disciples say his diet during the last three weeks was just plain water taken with a pinch of salt and lemon, and caution visitors to not let him exert too much. But the swami insists on talking. “People ask me why I can’t occupy myself with bhajan-bhakti like other sadhus? Why am I so keen to stop mining activities? I ask them ‘how can I sit by and simply watch the river being killed simply because of the greed of a few people?’” he says.The swami’s fight began in 1998 during the Kumbh Mela when he spotted the riverbed being dug up and trucks stealthily crossing the river at night carrying quarried material. After he protested, there was a brief clampdown by district authorities. But by then he had become a marked man. “There were multiple attacks on members of our ashram throughout 1999,” says Brahmachari Dayanand, the swami’s chief disciple. Anil Gautam of the People’s Science Institute, a Dehradun-based NGO involved in environmental issues, says that Matri Sadan sadhus have over the years ruffled many feathers. “The fact that they have continually been the target of attacks shows that a number of people who are exploiting the Ganga want them out of the way,” he says.In 2000, Swami Shivanand became the target of a series of attacks, say his disciples. “He was implicated in a false case and thrown in jail in September 2000,” alleges Dr Vijay Verma, a local pediatrician. “While there, he refused to eat anything, but he was force-fed nimbu paani. Soon after, he started throwing up blood. We had his blood samples analysed and found that he was administered arsenic poison, which was most likely mixed with the nimbu paani.”In 2011, another of the swami’s disciples, Nigamananda, passed away after fasting for almost 115 days against the activities of the mining mafia. The ashram’s sadhus allege that he was administered organophosphate poison.The stakes involved in this fight are high — the illegal mining business in the region is booming. The stretch between Rishikesh and Haridwar especially, is rich in riverbed stones, and a happy hunting ground for miners.“These crushed stones or gitti are in great demand for construction,” says Dayanand. But once the stones are removed from the riverbed, it sets into motion an ecological imbalance which is hard to reverse. D S Bhargava, former professor of environmental engineering, IIT Roorkee, who is a regular visitor to the ashram, points out that riverbed stones are a natural protection against floods since they regulate the flow of the river. “Because they are being removed rampantly, its effects are becoming increasingly evident. Areas like Misarpur and Ajitpur, where illegal mining is rampant, are also the places most prone to floods,” he says.But despite these glaring facts, not much is being done on the ground to stop illegal mining. This is because, says an observer, most of the mining in the area is controlled by politicians or their henchmen. “They might fight on other issues, but as far as mining is concerned, they are united because many of them have a stake,” he says.The ashram inmates though say they remain hopeful things will change. “Earlier, people were not willing to talk about the issue but in the last two decades since we began our fight, at least the matter has got recognition,” says the swami. “The Supreme Court and the Union environment ministry have also taken note of the problem. I am sure that the results will come. Our job is to keep doing our karma.”