Holy Bein’s source at Dhanoa village faces neglect

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Mukerian, October 17

Even as the 550th Gurpurb of Guru Nanak is approaching, little seems to have been done to upkeep the Holy Bein or its original source at Dhanoa village in the periphery of Mukerian.

The Bein is learnt to have originated from the water of the natural springs in the village. The groundwater level in the village has fallen, due to which there are no natural springs now. Water simply percolates from beneath the ground, but it is not in a volume so as to form any free-flowing stream.

At the site, a historical baoli (stepwell) remains in a state of total neglect as Sikhs as well as Sanatan Dharam temple authorities are in a dispute over its ownership. The baoli, which is earlier learnt to have more water, now has about 5-feet-deep water, which is dark, filthy, covered with leaves and mosquitoes, and unfit for use.

From Dhanoa to the adjoining Terkiana village, the Bein hardly has any water. There are small puddles in it and most of it is filled with weeds and hyacinth. As the rivulet reaches Terkiana, water from Mukerian Hydel Project falls into it and makes a moving stream.

Peeved over the ecological changes in the area, former IAS officer P Ram had initiated Baba Nanak Kali Bein Project alongwith environmentalist Balbir S Seechewal in 2000. A member of the committee and social activist Surinder Saini, said, “The members, including senior officials from Forests, Horticulture, Irrigation and Local Bodies, held meetings at sites and envisaged a plan to bring about more plantations in the area to maintain the groundwater level so that springs could emerge again and a natural flow of Bein could be revived. But the project got shelved soon with hardly any work done.”

Harnam Singh, a Dhanoa resident, said, “While earlier environmentalist Balbir S Seechewal used to come here and maintained the place along with his volunteers, he is now working at some distance from here as he does not want to get into the village politics. He used to hold nagar kirtan on the occasion starting from here, but now it starts from adjoining villages.”

Seechewal is currently spearheading a campaign to put pressure on the government to maintain Bein.

NGT chairman Justice Jasbir Singh visited Bein for the second time today and issued a deadline to the administration for October 31 to ensure that there is an alternate mechanism for discharge of sewage, may be on a temporary basis so that not even a drop of it does not make way into Bein till the Gurpurb celebrations are on.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to release 500 cusec freshwater into Bein from October 23 to facilitate the devotees to have a holy dip at Sultanpur Lodhi.