Impressed by the river cleaning project of Padma Shri awardee environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is all set to visit the state to study the Seechewal model on February 19.
Kumar would visit Seechewal village in Jalandhar district to witness the river cleaning model set up by Baba Seechewal with an indigenous technology. Besides, he would also see the Kali Bein — a 165-km-long rivulet cleaned and rejuvenated by Baba Seechewal from a black filthy drain.
“Among other things, Bihar CM would also take a look at 13-kilometre agriculture area irrigated by the treated water from Sultanpur Treatment Plant. In addition, he would also inspect the low-cost treatment plant installed at the railway station,” said Baba Seechewal’s aide Sant Surjit Singh.
A low cost underground sewerage system model has been developed with the help of the Punjab government that collects sewage water from ponds and treats it in a natural way so it can be used for agriculture and irrigation purposes.
Baba Seechewal had met Bihar Chief Minister during his 12-day stay at Patna to attend the celebrations of 350th birth anniversary of Sikhs’ tenth master Guru Gobind Singh.
During their meeting, the renowned conservationist apprised Kumar of the successful low cost ‘Seechewal Model’ which impressed Bihar Chief Minister who had then promised to visit Punjab to see its functioning to replicate the same in his state.
Kumar had maintained that though his government was carrying extensive project of cleaning the drains in the state, disposing off the toxic water was a major problem.
Already, Seechewal model of river cleaning — involving eco-friendly and natural processes to treat wastewater and sewage — has been implemented by five states in the country under Centre’s Namami Ganga campaign.
Covering no less than 1657 villages, the campaign is aimed at cleaning 2,500-km-long Ganga river passing through the five states, including Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Seechewal model, a low cost project, was also seen and appreciated by the former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam in 2013.
The neighbouring states of Delhi and Haryana have also expressed their desire to implement the same to clean their rivers, while Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan had also met Seechewal at Jabalpur to start the cleaning of Narmada river through the model.
Known as “Eco Warrior” or “Eco Baba”, Baba Seechewal was recently awarded Padma Shri for social service and rejuvenating Kali Bein, which was reduced to a filthy drain due to several dozen villages and towns discharging sewer water into it, into “Holy Bein” as it is known today.
Since 2000, Baba Seechewal has been cleaning the highly polluted Kali Bein with the help of a small team without any government help and has exhibited a rare example of cleaning the water.
Kali Bein — a rivulet of the Beas in Doaba region of Punjab — has immense importance in the Sikh community as it is believed that the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, attained enlightenment after taking a dip in the Kali Bein, and led to the origin of Sikhism’s mool-mantra ‘Ik Onkar’.
Baba Seechewal worked day and night — from running public awareness campaigns to uprooting water hyacinth himself, from evolving low cost sewerage system to raising funds, to beautification of river bank with trees, bathing ghats, and roads.