No Kaushalya water for Sukhna

Chandigarh, January 11

In a yet another jolt to the UT Administration’s efforts to preserve the city’s landmark Sukhna Lake, the Haryana government has turned down its request to provide water from the Kaushalya Dam in Pinjore to the Sukhna Lake.

The Haryana government, in its recent communication to the UT Administration, stated that it would not be able to provide water from the Kaushalya Dam to fill the Sukhna Lake.

A few months back, the Administration had requested the Haryana government to provide a separate water line from the line which the government was laying from Pinjore to Panchkula to end the water crisis in Panchkula.

A senior official of the UT Administration said they were trying everything to save the Sukhna Lake and in this process, they had also sought the help from the Haryana government.

The official added that rain was the major source of water to the Sukhna Lake and it had not rained well in past year.

The lake had not filled to its capacity and therefore, they had sought water from the Kaushalya Dam, he added.

More water in the Sukhna Lake would suffocate the weed that grew in the swamp. The weed would not be able to come above the water level and die.

Sources said the Haryana government had informed the UT Administration the Kaushalya Dam would provide 18.40 cusecs of raw drinking water to Panchkula and adjoining areas and the project cost was around Rs 200 crore.

The project was started to end the water crisis in the Panchkula district and therefore, it would be not possible for Haryana to give water to the UT Administration for the Sukhna Lake, the sources added.

Water crisis in Panchkula
At present, 170 tubewells are the only source of water supply to Panchkula. The present requirement of the town is 24 MGD (million gallons per day). Panchkula is receiving 19.03 MGD from tubewells. HUDA officials had given an estimate that Panchkula needed 3.24 MGD from the Kajauli waterworks and 5.40 MGD from the Kaushlya Dam.