Saturday 10 December 2011

SUKHNA LAKE CHANDIGARH : A DYING LANDMARK

Sukhna lake has been reduced to the level of a big pond over the last 55 years of my stay in the city. Its grandeur and beauty are nowhere to be seen now. In my young days the water level used to be confined to the present bed level after the monsoons and the depth of water would be around 4-5 metres. After the summers the stairs leading to the water front and those on the other side would look almost equally steep and long, for no excavation was carried out and the lake was formed by just blocking the passage of Sukhna rivulet. With all of much boasted water body management expertise and engineering skills available in the country we could neither manage the silting problem, nor keep the weeds away. Over the years only piece meal efforts have been made to address this problem while a concerted well thought out plan is required to make it into a meaningful lake. If we cannot do it wholeheartedly let us not waste our precious national wealth on half cooked measures which find favour with the present day polity and bureaucracy for serving their personal interests for short term gains. 

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