Sant revives dead river

New Delhi, Apr 23: The zeal and dedication of Sant Balbir Singh Sinchewal has helped in reviving ''kali Bein'', the sacred river of Punjab in which Guru Nanak Dev took a holy dip attaining enlightenment five centuries ago, thus setting a trend for others to follow his example for other Indian rivers.

In a rare feat of piety and environment conservation, took Mr Sinchewal five odd years to bring a ''dead river to life'' through the help extended by 'kar seva'(volutary service).

Enthusing an exemplary motivation and religious fervour among the people in the area, Sant Sinchewal took over the onerous work of cleansing the shabby 'Kali Bein' in July 2000.

Setting an uncommon precedent by jumping first into the muddy waters overshadowed by overgrown weeds, and removing hyacinth (a green weed) drew hundreds of his followers to the sacred river, turned into a virtual sewer with several drains pouring into it from adjoining townships as well as effluents from the Railway Coach factory, Kapurthala.

The Sant met President A P J Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday and invited him to visit his 'work of passion'.

The President, already aware of the Sant's distinct feat, agreed to visit 'Kali Bein' river within two months. Dr Kalam, had reportedly mentioned about this 'zealous service' as many as eleven times in his speeches on the environmental issues.

The 160-Km-long river that springs from Dhanoa village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab merges in the confluence of Beas and Ravi rivers at Hakike Pattan from where Rajasthan canal originates.

The spring was bricklined during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. Also, a gurdwara at Sultanpur Lodhi near the bank of 'Kali Bein' had also come up, commemorating the enlightenment attained by the Guru after a dip in the river there as Buddha got it under 'Bodh Tree' in Gaya in Bihar some 2500 years ago.

But the neglect of river always troubled the Sant, who invoked the Guru's enlightenment episode to inspire the people to join the cleaning project.

As some parts of 'Kali Bein' banks were brought under intensive farming and some other parts had become inaccessible and inhospitable due to wild growth over the decades, as many as 60 'kuttcha' roads were first constructed to take the people and tractors into the river bed for the cleaning operation.

With the Sant's perseverance, the number of kar seva voluneers incrased as the days passed by on. At some occasions, the figure of kar sevaks reached 3000 a day with 50 tractors lent free by farmers engaged in removing the earth at the river bed.

Now ,the river has been embanked by stopping the entry of polluted water. And, both sides of river have been laid with flowers beds.

The river which is deep as much as 18 feet at some places is no longer a dead one but it flows with water piped into it from upstream Talwara Dam. The Punjab Government has also agreed to release more water into the river from the Dam.

But this 'pious project' is not so far totally free from ''politics and greed of some vested interests,'' who threaten to pour sewerage in it again or draw water from it for irrigation purposes.

The Sant, however, claimed to get an assurance from President Kalam on Friday that he would see to it that the 'labour of love' would not get spoilt by some vested interests and this 'work of and passion' would continue to be the source of inspiration world over.

UNI