North India finds hope in Saraswati's revival

Kolkata, Feb 5: Just when northern India is facing water scarcity, the revival of the 'mythical river' Saraswati will bring hope to thousands living in arid zones of Rajasthan, Harayana and Gujarat.

Curator of Sri Krishna Museum in Kurushketra Rajesh Purohit has announced that he had discovered the river bed of the lost Saraswati river at Bhor Saidan village, 13 km from Kurushetra on the Pehowa road.

Mr Purohit, who was present here recently to attend an annual lecture organised by the Bengal Mass Education Society, also added that a large number of satellite images of the paleo-channels (buried channels) and old alluvial soils have been mapped which distinctly proves the existence of channels below the archaeological sites of Harayana.

Mr Purohit's recent findings imply that there was a possibility of constructing wells in the central Saraswati basin to augment the water resources in the region.

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) was also interested in the exploration following the discovery of mica particles from an artesian well in Kalayat, along the river track.

ONGC General Manager M R Rao had taken several samples from the site to carry out carbon and radio-active dating to explore water.

The river's revival would not only benefit the country in terms of augmentation of the ground water from the paleo-channels in the drought prone areas but also enable the scholars to solve mysteries of the Aryan invansion.

UNI