Haryana: Saraswati river board collects samples from Rajasthan, Gujarat
The team, led by vice-chairman of the board, Dhuman Singh Kirmach and including research officer Deepa, consultant GS Gautam and finance officer Surjit Singh, is surveying the Saraswati paleochannel and other archaeological sites from Pushkar in Rajasthan to Rann of Kutch in Gujarat
To expand its research on the revival of the extinct Saraswati river, a team of Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board (HSHDB) collected samples, records and technical data during its 10-day tour to Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The team, led by vice-chairman of the board, Dhuman Singh Kirmach and including research officer Deepa, consultant GS Gautam and finance officer Surjit Singh, is surveying the Saraswati paleochannel and other archaeological sites from Pushkar in Rajasthan to Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
Deepa said that the team aims to collect material related to the river and the samples will be tested in various labs to later co-relate with the river-bed sand of Haryana. Based on the results from the labs, proposals for the revival of the river will be sent to the states, she added.
In 2013, it was revealed by the Congress-led UPA government that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had studied the palaeochannels in northwest India and related them to the channels of river Saraswati.
The Haryana government had in 2015 formed the HSHDB for rejuvenation of the river and approved several projects including construction of Somb Saraswati Barrage, Saraswati Reservoir and Adi Badri Dam on Somb river at the Himachal Pradesh border.
In November 2016, the then minister of state in the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, had told Parliament that a large Himalayan-born river flowed through the wide channel of Ghaggar-Hakara-Nara from the Himalayas to Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
According to a report prepared by the Haryana officials, Saraswati originated at Adi Badri, a site of archaeological and religious significance located around 40 kilometre away from Yamunanagar, at the foothills of the Shivalik mountains, near the Somb river.
The report, sent to the Union government, referenced studies which have indicated that the Saraswati river system in the Vedic period included rivers like Ghaggar, Markanda, Chautang, Sutlej and Yamuna as tributaries, but around 3,700 BC, Yamuna was diverted to its present course and Sutlej was deflected to the west, later causing the disappearance of the Saraswati river, due to tectonic disturbances in the area.
Dr Deepa said, “The team is physically verifying the channel found by ISRO through its satellite imagery and also the major Harappan sites like Rakhigarhi of Haryana that were said to be lying along the Saraswati.”
Kirmach said that the team also visited Rani Ki Vav, a step-well situated in Patan district of Gujarat.
“It is believed to be situated on the Saraswati river-bed and was used as a water reservoir in summers and droughts. The revenue records of Patan district have a mention of the river. The technical team has collected sand samples from Sidhpur in Gujarat and will send them to Jaipur for testing. Earlier, the board’s research was limited to Haryana, now chief minister Manohar Lal has planned to work in other states for the river’s revival,” the vice-chairman told HT.
