Release funds for Sukhna Lake study: HC to UT

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, on Tuesday, directed the UT Administration to immediately release funds to the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee so that it can complete a study of the Sukhna lake.

A case pertaining to save Sukhna lake came up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain.

During the resumed hearing of the case, senior standing counsel for Union of India, Onkar Singh Batalvi, apprised the court that the said institute had written to the UT Administration seeking finances to conduct the research, but to no effect.

The institute is supposed to complete the study of the lake by June 2013. However, the bench held that NIH should try to complete the study by April 2013.

The UT Administration further submitted that in the interim report of the institute, no ways and means had been mentioned to save the lake.

Replying to this, Batalvi informed the bench that ways and means would be given after the completion of the study.

Earlier, the court was informed that on average Chandigarh receive 1153 ml of rainfall in a year and this year only 853 ml rainfall had been received and there was a deficiency of 300 ml rainfall.

In the interim report, NIH had found that water availability, weed infestation, siltation, and deficit rainfall led to scarcity of water in the lake. It was suggested that the Administration should get a feasibility study carried out to identify alternative source of water for the lake.

The study had also identified reasons that lead to the growth of weed in the lake. This included sediments inflow from the catchment area, contribution from the Kaimbwala nullah and Kansal nullah, overland flow from Kaimbwala region, litter from forest area and nutrient regenerated from the lake.

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