Save Sukhna case: Panel to meet tomorrow

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

A six-member committee constituted in the Save Sukhna case will meet on Saturday at the UT Guest House. If required, the committee may visit Sukhna Lake before submitting suggestions and forwarding the minutes of the meeting to the court. This was made clear by the Punjab and Haryana High Court before fixing June 1 as the next date of hearing.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, Assistant Solicitor-General of India Chetan Mittal submitted that scientists Suhas Khobragade and Ashok Gupta will be the committee members. UT senior standing counsel Suvir Sehgal added that Anurag Aggarwal, Secretary, UT Engineering Department, would also be a committee member.\B \BPunjab Additional Advocate-General Reeta Kohli forwarded the name of IAS officer Rahul Tiwari while her Haryana counterpart RKS Brar submitted the name of RS Verma, Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources. “A committee of six officers has been constituted, who will hold the meeting on May 27…,” the Bench asserted.

The High Court had earlier asked the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Union Ministry of Water Resources to look into the issue of depleting water level in Sukhna Lake. The Division Bench, headed by Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal, had also asked the Chandigarh Administration to ensure the cleaning of water channels for a smooth flow of water.

The rain-fed lake at the foothills of the Himalayas was created way back in 1958 by damming the Sukhna choe, a seasonal stream coming down from the Shivalik Hills. The Bench had asked the senior standing counsel for UT, Suvir Sehgal, to ask the authorities concerned to make sincere efforts “so that the water level is increased by at least two feet.”

The Bench had also received from senior advocate Manmohan Lal Sarin and amicus curiae or the friend of the Court, Tanu Bedi, a comprehensive report on the basis of the suggestions received from people for saving the lake. The High Court, in its order dated March 14, 2011, had also issued directions for restoring the lake and its former glory. 

The Division Bench of the High Court in May, 2012, had directed the Punjab and Haryana governments, along with the Chandigarh Administration, not only to stop construction activity in the lake’s catchment area but also to demolish without notice any construction being carried out against the High Court mandate.

UT finalises city    firm for desilting 

• Chandigarh: The UT Engineering Department has finalised a city-based firm  for  desilting of Sukhna lake. Sources said the firm had quoted the lowest Rs 19  lakh for the job. Three firms had  applied  for it. 
• Department officials said the work would start  soon. The tender for desilting was floated on the directions of the  High Court that  expressed  concern over depleting water level. The court had also asked the Chandigarh Administration to ensure the cleaning of water channels.
• The Administration has also  decided to engage  experts from the Wildlife Institute, Dehradun, to study  usefulness  of check  dams, constructed in the  catchment  area. Some of the experts also raised question over the check dams. They said to reduce the flow of silt into the lake, the Administration constructed 190 check dams. Their objective was to release water after desilting. In actual practice, the desilted water, instead of being released, is being stored in the check dams for an indefinite period. Nothing is being done to get its share of water released from the catchment area. TNS