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Sabarmati water for Udaipur lakes?

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR JAN. 3. The Rajasthan Government may consider a proposal to bring water from the Sabarmati basin to the lakes in Udaipur -- nestled in the Aravalli hills in the southern part of the State -- through an 11.8-km-long tunnel so as to ensure steady levels of water in the lakes drying up due to recurrent drought.

The construction of a dam on Mansi-Vakal river near Udaipur is currently underway to provide irrigation facility and supplement the availability of drinking water in the town. A diversion from the river, earlier planned to be brought to a filtration plant near Udaipur, would be insufficient to bring up the lake water levels.

The City of Lakes, once known for the beauty of its five water bodies -- Pichola, Fateh Sagar, Rana Sagar, Swaroop Sagar and Doodh Talai -- and a number of ghats, is now witnessing the destruction of its glorious heritage. These lifelines of the picturesque town were built by the erstwhile Mewar kings about 600 years ago.

The unique lake system has been confronting a number of challenges to its existence. Dumping of waste and garbage and lakhs of litres of sewage, uncontrolled growth of water hyacinth and the silting caused by illegal construction of buildings near the lakes have endangered these water bodies over the years. They are now becoming virtually dry following successive droughts.

A meeting of the Irrigation and Public Works Departments, scheduled here for January 5, will discuss the action plan for timely completion of the Mansi-Vakal project and may consider the proposed Vakal diversion scheme to replenish the water in the lakes to the required level.

The State PWD Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, said in Udaipur today that the work on the dam would be completed by June this year and called upon the officials concerned to implement the project "with an open mind'' to ensure the availability of water in the lakes. The public sector Hindustan Zinc Limited is assisting the State Government in the project's implementation.

The Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti (JSS), a non-Government organisation in Udaipur working for protection of lakes, has pointed out that the catchment area of lakes has become inadequate and heavily deforested. Hence the need for a major engineering innovation to bring the surplus of monsoon waters to the lakes to maintain their level.

The project envisages construction of two small dams near Akodra and Madri villages situated in the Sabarmati basin about 60 km from the district headquarter and the supply of 400 million cubic feet water to the lakes by an 11.8-km-long tunnel through the intervening hills.

The JSS general secretary, Tej Razdan, told the hindu that the project would be technically feasible and economically sound and, according to estimates, would cost Rs. 52.55 crores. If a more advanced tunnel boring method is used, the expenditure would be about Rs. 65 crores and the project can be completed in half the duration.

The JSS, in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, has pointed out that the availability of rain waters in the Sabarmati basin is of the order of 28,300 mcft, of which only 8,300 mcft is utilised by the 57 functioning dams and 15 projects that are underway in the region. Thus, there would be no difficulty in diverting 400 mcft of water which otherwise flows into Sabarmati river.

The economy of Udaipur depends on tourism and the annual earnings in the sector amount to Rs. 1,200 crores. Since the major attraction for tourists in the town are the lakes, an initiative to preserve the quality and levels of water in them is the need of the hour.

The Union Ministry of Water Resources has since written to the State Government asking it to examine the proposed scheme, prepare a detailed project report and send it to the Central Water Commission for its consideration. Dr. Razdan expressed hope that the Government would find the scheme technically feasible and worth taking up to preserve Udaipur with its historical importance.

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