E-Paper
IIT-K scientists studying changing course of rivers
A SCIENTIST AT the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K) strongly feels that studies be conducted to ascertain exact causes of change in the course of rivers.
A SCIENTIST AT the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K) strongly feels that studies be conducted to ascertain exact causes of change in the course of rivers.
Talking to the Hindustan Times, a senior professor in the civil engineering department at the Institute, Dr Rajiv Sinha said, “In fact, we are fast moving to arid phase from humid phase which we left some 5000 years before.”
He said there were evidences that thousands of years ago Rajasthan, Gujarat and other Himalayan regions were very humid, but due to serious changes in climatic situations these areas turned to dry plains.
Similarly, studies have revealed that the Ganga used to flow above the Jajmau mound in Kanpur and above the Dhruv mound in Bithoor but now its current has gone very low. The Sengur river, which flows from Kanpur Dehat, was very wide some centuries ago but now it has shrunk to the size of a drain.
“But what climatic changes exactly bring about these changes in rivers is a serious matter of study so that a futuristic plan can be prepared for benefit of the human race. He said a three-phase plan had been designed to carry out the studies of the changing ‘moods’ of the rivers.
He said, “In the first phase, studies will be conducted to know the factors that affected the Ganga, the Yamuna and a few other important rivers of the Gangetic plain. In the second phase the studies will be concentrated upon the rivers of Madhya Pradesh. Finally, in the third phase, studies on high mountain areas will be conducted to assess the climatic cyclic order which will give a new from to the rivers in future.”
He said the work to study the changes in rivers had already been started.
