Chandigarh, February 3
The UT engineering department has conceived a project for removing 1.63-lakh cubic meter silt from Sukhna Lake at a proposed cost of Rs 1.84 cr.
In a reply submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh superintending engineer SK Chadha said another project for wet dredging of the lake has been proposed and sent for approval to the Chandigarh administration.
Elaborating on the earlier measures, Chadha said 192 silt rotation dams and 200 check dams had been constructed. As many as 110 dams had been silted or partially silted and 82 dams were having perennial water bodies.
Necessary spurs and small loose stone structure for minimising soil erosion had been constructed. Massive plantation of varieties of trees had been undertaken in lower hills and higher reaches of the hills
Silt was being removed from the regulatory end of the lake, with the help of the Bhakra Beas Management Board, the defence authorities and irrigation departments of Punjab and Haryana. Manual “shramdan”, involving people, was also being carried out since 1988, the reply stated.
A Sector-9 resident, Gautam, in a communication sent on November 18, 2009, to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court had stated that the area of Sukhna Lake had reduced due to silting and the administration was doing nothing in this regard.
Taking cognizance of the letter, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh had asked the Chandigarh administration to file a reply in this regard.