Badnore for study to save Sukhna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 19

Expressing concern over the receding water level of Sukhna Lake, which has also been echoed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore has stressed the need for a comprehensive study to look into various options of providing additional water to the lake.

He said the work of conducting the study should be allotted to an expert agency without delay.

Badnore said this while chairing a meeting of the State Board for Wildlife, UT, Chandigarh, today, which was attended by senior officers. He said the current situation should be used as an opportunity to clean the lake through desilting that would also increase the capacity of the lake.

The meeting was attended by Parimal Rai, UT Adviser; MP Singh, Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor; Asha Jaswal, Mayor; Anurag Agarwal, Home Secretary-cum-Secretary, Forests and Environment; Santosh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests; and other senior officers of the UT Administration.

The water-holding capacity of the lake has drastically reduced by nearly 66 per cent due to sand deposits. The low water level in Sukhna is a problem every summer. The water level touched 1,152 ft today, the lowest in several years.

Before the start of the meeting, Badnore planted a sapling at the Punjab Raj Bhawan in memory of Anil Madhav Dave, Union Environment Minister, who passed away yesterday.