CM at BJP rally may look at Badkhal lake revival

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, June 6

The revival of the dried up Badkhal lake seems to have emerged as an issue of the BJP’s rally here to be held here tomorrow. It will be addressed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

With Seema Trikha, BJP MLA from the Badkhal constituency, organising a public meeting as part of the ongoing mass contact drive of the ruling party in the state, sources in the party claimed that the CM was expected to announce refilling of the lake, which dried up several years ago. This led to the downfall in the number of tourists arriving at one of largest lakes of the state.

Though Trikha claimed that the focus of the rally was to provide a thrust to overall development in the constituency, she said the Badkhal lake was a prominent issue that had been taken up by the present government.

She said her efforts were on to improve the basic infrastructure and amenities in the constituency, where the problems related to roads, power and water supply galore and there was an urgent need to build or develop facilities connected to health, education and tourism.

Tourism and Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who was here recently, had also visited the Badkhal lake and had announced that the state government was working on a project to revive the lake. He had said since the spot was among the dream projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, efforts were on to revive it.

He said it was one of the best natural tourist spots in the NCR and its revival would help to boost the tourism sector.

“The lake complex, spread over 40 acres, had come up in 1969. Illegal mining, encroachments and water bottling plants that came up in the past few decades have made the lake dry. The place has also lost thousands of tourists because of this,” claimed Devender Singh Surjewala, a resident.