PRAYAGRAJ: In an inspiring effort, over 30,000 people belonging to 20 villages in three blocks of Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district toiled for over 10 months to revive the earlier course of a seasonal river. Over the last decade, the Sakarni (Sanskrit for one who listens), a rivulet that feeds the Sai, a tributary of the Ganga, saw large-scale encroachment by farmers on its banks. Consequently, the rivulet changed its course and became shallow in stretches.
A local green activist, Ajay Krantikari, who heads an NGO called “Paryavaran Sena”, led a campaign to bring back the river to its natural course and first raised the issue before the district environment committee, which is headed by the district magistrate.
On October 13, 2023, following Krantikari’s efforts, the district authorities included the Sakarni river under the small rivers’ rejuvenation list under MGNREGS.
Old revenue records were scanned to ascertain the natural course of the river, which was almost lost to the local residents.
Over the next 10 months, nearly 30,000 people worked under MGNREGS to bring the river back to its natural 27.7km-long course. Besides, they also found employment in their respective blocks during the rejuvenation work on the rivulet. The district administration spent Rs. 1.35 crore to make this happen.
Shri Krishna, Pratapgarh district development officer, said, “The rejuvenation work of the small river Sakarni has been done with the help of villagers. Now, the river is flowing along its natural course. After conducting a detailed survey and analysis, we removed all the encroachments upon the natural course of the river.” He said the seasonal river is now providing livelihood to people of Laxmanpur and adjoining blocks.
Source:https://shorturl.at/1IdFR
