Kapurthala, October 15: Ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev that will be celebrated in 2019, the Punjab government on Friday launched a drive to clean the 160-km holy rivulet associated with the first Sikh master.
Guru Nanak Dev, who had spent 14 years of his early life at Sultanpur Lodhi, used to take a dip in this stream. This Bein flows through Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi and merges into the Sutlej near Harike Pattan.
However, with the passage of time, the rivulet got filled with sewage, as villages and towns in Kapurthala district started disposing of their waste in it. The Railway Coach Factory in Kapurthala has also been adding its effluents into the stream.
Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the state government, the unchecked growth of weeds and accretion of garbage made it a cesspool.
After the formation of the Congress government in March this year, irrigation minister and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh expressed concern over the pitiable condition of the Kali Bein. During a visit to Sultanpur Lodhi in July, he announced to clean the underwater vegetation in the rivulet within three months, besides ensuring the renovation of Kanjli wetland within six months to make it a tourist hub again.
On Saturday, Rana Gurjit Singh along with district officials and local Congress workers visited the Kanjali wetland. He supervised the cleaning operation launched by the irrigation and drainage department with the help of a special device attached with a JCB machine that helps in removing the hyacinth and various kinds of under-vegetation.
The minister said, “The Congress government is committed to cleaning the holy rivulet and put an end to disposal of sewage water in it by 2019 when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be held,” he said.
He said the experiment with the indigenous device is proving successful in removing the hyacinth from the rivulet. He said drainage department would soon install a conveyor belt system at the Kanjli Bridge barrage.
Rana Gurjit said the 3-km pathway along with the Kali Bein, from Gau Ghat to Kanjli wetland, would be reconstructed beautifully and CCTV cameras will be installed with a budget of Rs 4.50 crore.
Spread over 183 hectares, the Kanjli wetland has religious importance as it is a part of the Kali Bein.
The wetland came into existence in 1870. The site also got recognition in 2012 under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and utilisation of wetlands.
But due to the government apathy, this site had become an abandoned spot over the years and a haven for drug addicts.
Sourced from hindustantimes.com
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