MCG launches drive to clean Sukhrali pond, nearby areas

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram on Tuesday launched a 30-day campaign to clean the pond at Sukhrali village and areas around the water body. Additional Commissioner Dr Balpreet Singh and Joint Commissioner Akhilesh Kumar Yadav said the initiative was being carried out by the civic body to conserve water bodies within the MC limits.

The campaign has been launched ahead of the World Wetlands Day, celebrated on February 2 every year. This year’s theme is “Protecting wetlands for our common future and underlining the important role wetlands play in biodiversity as well as in our communities, industries and cultural heritage”.

The brand ambassador of MCG (Swacch Bharat Mission) Kuldeep Hindustani, Consultant Surabhi Rathore; an activist of Hara Jeevan Sanstha, an NGO, Dr Hemlata Sahai; a social activist Rakhi Sharma and others cleaned the surroundings of the pond on the first day of the campaign.

Amir Khan, a volunteer, said, “It is our collective responsibility to protect these valuable natural resources in the fast-developing cities”.

Surabhi Rathore said, “The campaign will help in raising public awareness for wetland conservation and will further strengthen the efforts of MCG to clean the water bodies”.

Notably, the Micro Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority (MICADA) has recently revived the water body under the supervision of Finland’s Embassy with funds from Indo Nordic Water Forum (INWF), the EU-India water partnership to tackle pollution in water bodies as well as address water challenges due to climate changes in the area.

In this project two modern technologies were combined together to rejunivate the water body. The SansOx company provided OxTubes to increase the dissolved oxygen in the water and Elixiir Ecobiotek company provided enzymes to clear and clean the water. Presently, the MCG is maintaining this project to keep the water body clean.