The BJP-led Haryana Government on Tuesday initiated its Rs50 crore ambitious ‘Saraswati Revival Project’ in Yamunanagar district of the State.
It is believed that ancient and sacred river — Saraswati flows through 41 villages of Yamunanagar. It originates from Adi Badri and its water falls in Somb river.
The integrated project would cover aspects such as flood protection, promotion of eco tourism and pilgrimage tourism, water conservation, improving ecological balance, among others and the Canal Act would be employed to restore Saraswati river on the land, where the natural creek of Saraswati river is believed to have existed in the ancient times.
Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Kanwar Pal on Tuesday inaugurated the excavation work for ‘Saraswati Revival Project’ in the village of Rolaheri in Yamunanagar district.
In the first phase of the project, the Saraswati river would be excavated in eight villages from Rola Heri to Sandhai.
The State Government has proposed that a check dam would be constructed on Somb river to store rain-water and divert it to Saraswati. It has also been proposed that a reservoir would be constructed in the village of Chhallour over an area of 400 acres. The technical survey of the dam and reservoir is being conducted by the State Irrigation Department.
Notably, a primary survey was conducted by the Yamunanagar development and panchayats officer, under the guidance of district Deputy Commissioner. Accordingly, various departments such as Irrigation, Revenue, Marketing Board, PWD and Forest have been asked to finalise the survey for the completion of the project.
Speaking on the occasion, Kanwar Pal said that the project would once again take the culture and heritage of India to the golden period. South Indian Scholar Dr Ratnakar has shown deep interest in initiating work on the project. Some people thought it to be mythological fantasy, but with the efforts made by Dr Ratnakar, and later by Darshan lal Jain, scientific research proved that Saraswati river is flowing here.
The researches conducted from Haryana to Gujarat and Rajasthan show that the quality of water and gravel stones in the river is alike. River Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati are the three religious rivers. Our great saints had scripted valuable Vedas and scriptures by the shores of the Saraswati River, he added.
Chief Minister Manohar lal has already already announced Rs50 crore for the Saraswati Revival Project. The initial excavation work would be taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The convergence of other schemes such as Shivalik Development Board would also be done in the near future.