A Dried River Revived by people in Saharanpur

Saharanpur: Collective efforts surely pay dividends. It proved correct in the case of Panwdhoi River of Saharanpur. The River, which used to flow throughout the year about 50 years back, had been converted into a drain because more than 210 small and big drains of the city join it. Some people of the city were deeply worried over it and they made efforts to save the river but in vain. Last year in March 2018 when Shri Chandra Prakash Tripathi took over as Divisional Commissioner of Saharanpur, he decided to contribute in the revival of the river. His efforts got active support from the people of the city and finally, the river has been accorded a new lease of life.

The first phase of this revival process has been completed. Juna Peethadhishwar Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Swami Avadheshanand Giri, Yog Guru Baba Ramdev, Swami Chidanand Saraswati of Parmarth Niketan, Mahamandaleshwar Swami Yatendranath and many other eminent personalities are joining the Jal Mahotsava being held on May 28 in Saharanpur. State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also applauded the efforts of the Divisional Commissioner for this wonderful initiative.

Many efforts were made during the last five decades to clean Panwdhoi, which is known as Ganga of Saharanpur, but every time the work could not be done due to various reasons including communication gap between the people and the administration, shortage of funds, etc. Finally, the efforts which were made did not show any fruitful results. In the year 2010-11, Saharanpur Municipal Corporation in association with the Panwdhoi Bachao Samiti started Mission Panwdhoi. The then District Magistrate and present Food Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh Shri Alok Kumar had also made some concrete efforts in 2008 to save this river. At that time the River, to some extent, had been cleaned but the efforts stopped after Shri Alok Kumar was transferred.

In March 2018, when Shri Chandra Prakash Tripathi became Divisional Commissioner of Saharanpur, he included the revival of Panwdhoi in his action plan and the people of the city also extended wholehearted support. He monitored this work every day. He also shared his action plan with the state Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath and applauded his efforts.

Now the first phase of the revival plan is over. Shri Tripathi hopes that the river would be fully revived in coming two more phases. He said since Saharanpur comes under Smart City plan, there will be no shortage of funds now. He says that cleanliness of the river is the collective responsibility of all and everyone has to contribute to it. He says he wants to clean the river to the extent that people can bathe in it without hesitation and it is home to the aquatic creatures again.