CHANDIGARH: Haryana state government is all set to make Saraswati river flow by the end of the month. A proposal discussed by the Saraswati Heritage Development Board says water from Uncha Chandana village would be discharged on July 30 through the Dadupur feeder into a route where cleaning work is being undertaken.
The path covers Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, and Kaithal districts. SHDB deputy chairman Prashant Bhardwaj said, "We are working on a plan to release water into Saraswati river through the Dadupur feeder. The modalities are being worked out. It is a fact that Saraswati flowed up to Rajasthan. Even ISRO has acknowledged it." He said around 69 organisations are involved in the project to revive the river, and the talks are on to make a consortium with the Indian Institute of Technology. Six borewells will be made in Yamunanagar and two at Adi Badri and Mugalwali. Other than catering to "religious tourists", the proposal involves developing a recreational water park, a botanical garden and a zoo at Adi Badri.
The discovery of some artefacts strengthened the claims of the government that an ancient civilisation used to exist along the river. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the project to unearth the Saraswati river was a mission "to keep alive the soul of a community," even if it meant creating a symbolic or artificial water body. Central government set up a panel under former Kumaon University vice-chancellor Prof KS Valdiya to verify Haryana's claims to discovery of the river. In 2002, too, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had constituted a panel to find the river. But after the UPA government came to power two years later, the project was scrapped.
