Rajasthan Seer Who Attempted Self-Immolation To Protest Illegal Mining, Dies At A Delhi Hospital

After protests grew, the local administration assured to shift the mines from Deeg and turn it into a religious tourist spot.

Visual from the spot on July 20 (Photo/ANI)

New Delhi: A sadhu who set himself on fire in Deeg in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district to protest against illegal mining in the area, died in a Delhi hospital on Saturday, said officials as reported by news agency ANI. "Sadhu Vijay Das died at around 2:30 am in the hospital where he was undergoing treatment after his self-immolation attempt," Sub Divisional Officer, Sanjay Goyal was quoted by ANI.

Earlier on July 21, his condition was said to be stable. 

The incident occurred on July 20 in Deeg when Sadhu Vijay Das attempted self-immolation during protests against illegal mining in the area. The city officials on receiving the information had rushed to the spot to put out the fire and rescue the seer. 

The locals and seers have been protesting against illegal mining in the area for a while. The administration had assured to shift the mines from Deeg and turn it into a religious tourist spot.

"These mines will be shifted and about 2,500 people who will be unemployed as a result, will be employed somewhere else...The state govt intends to make it (stone mining area) into a religious tourism spot”, an official was quoted as saying by ANI.

Congress MLAs React

Following the demise of seer Vijay Das, Congress MLAs have urged Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to sack Mining Minister Pramod Bhaya. 

”There is a saying of Hadoli, “Kankh mein Chhora village mein dhindora”.The big mining mafia is the mineral minister himself. A record of illegal mining has been created by him. In 12 other districts, the minister’s been appointing officials so as to carry out illegal activities of forests, lands, rivers and drains. Many people have lost their lives due to the minister’s operation,” Congress MLA Bharat Singh wrote in his letter addressed to the Chief Minister of his own party, according to ANI.

Another Congress MLA Wajib Ali also expressed his concern over the Bharatpur incident and said, ”The state should have taken a note on the situation earlier. The sadhu had warned already and then attempted self-immolation”, reported ANI. He further said, “negligence on part of the administration, especially when he had already been given a warning. He should have been pacified, spoken to, but I agree that whatever happened was really wrong.”