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Ramayan, Mahabharat era rivers to be revived: UP minister
These rivers include Aril in Bareilly, Sot in Badaun, Sai in Unnao, Tamsa in Ayodhya, Manorama in Basti, Varuna in Varanasi and Ami in Gorakhpur. These water bodies originate from the plains and find mention in the Ramayan and Mahabharat
UP irrigation minister Dharam Pal Singh on Sunday said for the first time in the state, a cell had been constituted for the revival of rivers originating from the plains.
“To begin with, eight rivers that found mention in the Ramayan and Mahabharat will be revived,” he said while interacting with media at circuit house in Agra.
The minister said FIR would be lodged and junior engineers of the irrigation department would be suspended, if any illegal diversion is found in the flow of irrigational rivers.
“The real wealth of the nation is not the silver and gold it possesses but it is ‘dharti’ (land) and natural resources including rivers. In a first of its kind initiative, the state government has decided to revive rivers that find a mention in mythological literature of Ramayan and Mahabharat. Eight such rivers will be in the first phase,” stated Dharampal Singh.
These rivers include Aril in Bareilly, Sot in Badaun, Sai in Unnao, Tamsa in Ayodhya, Manorama in Basti, Varuna in Varanasi and Ami in Gorakhpur. These water bodies originate from the plains and find mention in the Ramayan and Mahabharat, he stated.
The minister held a meeting with irrigation department officials and asked them to focus on the agenda for the next two months. He did some tough talking on the issue of illegal diversions in canals and said those engaged in such diversion would face FIR while the JE concerned would face suspension as diversion of water flow leads to water-logging, which harms the crops.
“Canals should have smooth flow of water for which
main canals need to be cleaned. With falling level of groundwater, we need to focus on
surface water and committees should be constituted for various aspects of irrigation,” stated Singh.
“The Ganga is getting around 7,000 cusec water from Tehri and 5,000 cusec from Ramganga. Overall 12,000 cusec water would reach Kumbh at Prayagraj by January 14,” he added.
Dharampal Singh talked about four national projects related to irrigation namely, Madhya Ganga Canal project, Saryu canal project, Ban Sagar project and Arjun Sagar project and expressed hope that the state government’s efforts would help farmers in a big way.
