Meet sets the ball rolling to revive Saraswati river

Amarjot Kaur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 9

The third International Conference on Saraswati River (ICSR- 2019) on the theme, ‘agricultural practises and archaeological evidences and exploration along Saraswati river paleochannel’, at the Golden Jubilee Hall of Panjab University set the ball rolling on the issue of reviving the Saraswati river on its concluding day.

Attended by intellectuals, scientists and scholars evoking enriching, insightful and lucid discussions, the conference, organised by the PU in collaboration with the Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board and ICSSR, North West Regional Centre, Chandigarh, highlighted the government’s endeavours to rejuvenate the ancient river, which has now been reduced to only a stream that swells in patches across Haryana.

A superintending engineer with the Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board and the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resource Development, Arvind Kaushik traced the struggle of perking up the Saraswati way back to 1985 as he recollected the Saraswati Shodh Yatra.

Elaborating on how Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar then marched along with Padma Shri Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar and various other experts in the field of geology and hydrology, he stated that when the BJP-led Haryana started Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board in 2015, the state’s Irrigation Department too constituted a Haryana Saraswati Heritage Circle in three divisions — Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal.

“To revive this river and make it a perennial source of water, we are interlinking Somb Saraswati and Markanda Saraswati along with its other 23 tributaries. Since the Somb brings floods in Haryana, especially in Yamunanagar, we have proposed a dam to be made in Adi Badri,” he said.

Talking about linking Markanda Saraswati with the Saraswati river, he said: “Earlier too, there was a 7-8 km channel between Markanda and Saraswati called Kanthla supply channel and its water was being used for filling Bibipur lake, which is now in a private land and is abandoned now”.

The channel’s water, if directed to the Saraswati, will recharge its ground water.” The Haryana Saraswati Heritage Circle, he added, had already sought an NOC from the Himachal Government for the Somb river, which originates in Nahan, and is yet to get the state’s approval.

“Our project report has been approved by the board though and we await the statuary clearances for the dam,” he said, stating that 72 outlets of wastewater being disposed into the Saraswati had been identified.

“We are also looking forward to a state policy on banning treated water to be poured into rivers,” he said.

Saraswati finds a mention in Rig Veda, says ex-prof

Shashi Tewari, a former professor of Sanskrit in DU, who is also the president of the World Association of Vedic Studies, reiterated that the Saraswati finds a mention in Rig Veda, the oldest of all Vedas. “The river has been hailed as a mighty river in the holy scriptures. However, in post-Vedic scriptures, the region where the Saraswati finds a mention reflects a catastrophic happening. It is imperative that scholars should be made an integral part of the river’s revival,” she said.

River dried up because of soil erosion, says Waterman of India

Waterman of India Rajendra Singh, water conservationist and environmentalist, who was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award, addressed the gathering as the guest of honour. As a living example of how water bodies can be revived even in an arid zone such as Rajasthan, Singh spoke at length on the need to revive the Saraswati river. “I have revived seven rivers without a single penny from the government. To revive the Saraswati, water recharge in the basin has to be increased. Also, it can happen if communities and students are mobilised and barrages are created to check soil erosion. The Saraswati dried up because of soil erosion. Also, there has to be more green cover in the area for trans-evaporation,” he said. He shared that crop pattern has to be linked with the rain pattern of the area. “If all this can bring rivers of rain-starved Rajasthan to life, for Punjab and Haryana it shouldn’t be that complex and expensive,” he said.