Beauty of Kashmir's Nile to be restored

Srinagar, June 15 (UNI) The sparkling beauty of river Jhelum, also called the Nile of Kashmir, would soon be restored.

At a high-level meeting here, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad reviewed the development work on the river Jhelum, also known as Vitasta, which holds the place of goddess Parvati in the Hindu religion and is worshipped by the people.

He was informed that during the past eight months, work on two-km Bund stretch from Sonawar to S P Museum at Lal Mandi here has been taken up and Rs 1.50 crore spent on it.

Mr Azad issued instructions to speed up the work on developing both fronts of river Jhelum.

The river, with its own historical background, must re-emerge as the beauty of Srinagar city, he added.

Mr Azad said the heritage buildings situated on both sides of the river should be given importance for their preservation.

About Rs 6 crore would soon be released to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department for carrying out work on development of river Jehlum expeditiously, he added.

The Chief Minister said the river front development programme of 3.6-km stretch from Sonawar to Tanki Pora here would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 25.55 crore.

The project envisaged development and beautification of both fronts of the river Jehlum. Developing parks, gardens, walkways and open spaces as an added attraction for the people in the summer capital of the state were the important features of the project.

The river finds a mention in Mahabharata in which Lord Krishna refers to Vitasta.

There are various names of river Jhelum besides its original name Vitasta...Kashmiri Pandits refer to it as 'Veth', Persians 'Behat' and the Greeks call it 'Hydaspes'.

The river Jhelum travels a distance of more than 600 miles from Verinag in south Kashmir before it joins Chenab and then enters Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to finally merge with river Indus.

UNI AG AK DS1623