M A I N   N E W S

TRIBUNE IMPACT
Saving Sukhna
Haryana gets moving
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Revival steps n Govt to grow trees like sheesham and shrubs to hold the soil n Single-line & double-line spurs to slow flow of rainwater n New check dams to be built and old ones to be repaired

Chandigarh, June 8
Responding to the distress call on Sukhna Lake of City Beautiful, Haryana Forest and Environment Minister Ajay Singh Yadav has got going. He has directed his department to immediately prepare an action plan for afforestation of the catchment area of the Sukhna falling in Haryana.

Speaking to The Tribune here today, the minister said the department had already prepared a tentative action plan in this regard. Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Forest, Keshni Anand Arora, he said, would meet the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Pradeep Mehra, for fine-tuning the plan.The meeting is expected this week.

The UT Administration’s afforestation proposals, if any, would also be incorporated in Haryana’s action plan.

Yadav said he was shocked to see a photograph of people strolling on the dry bed of the Sukhna published in The Tribune. The photograph and report on the slow death of the Sukhna rang alarm bells in his mind and he immediately issued necessary instructions to his department. He said he had asked the department to implement the action plan on a war footing.

Haryana had as much vested interest in keeping the Sukhna alive as the UT Administration because Chandigarh was also the capital of the state. He said the UT, Haryana and Punjab should make concerted efforts to solve the problem of silting.

About the tentative action plan, Yadav said the total catchment area of the Sukhna was about 4,200 hectares, out of which about 25 per cent (about 1,055 hectares) fell in Haryana’s Surajpur block of Panchkula.

The Forest Department would plant various trees like the sheesham, kher, teak, kikar and bamboo in about 50 hectares. In another 50 hectares, bhabhar (a variety of grass) would be grown. Besides, 50,000 plants of agave and 50,000 plants of ipomea (a shrub) would be planted as these held the soil firmly.

Haryana would construct both single-line and double-line spurs in the area to slow the flow of rainwater. Besides, a large number of new check dams would be constructed and old ones renovated.