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Land Of Dark Zones Punjab: Turning into land of dark zones - Need of people’s movement for water conservation by KHETI VIRASAT Punjab- the name itself is explanatory and stands for abundance of water. It is the land of water heritage of Guru Nanak Dev and Bhai Kanhiya. The people of Punjab are ardent follower of great piau tradition of "Bhai Kanhiya" i.e. Serving water to humanity without any discrimination of caste, creed, religion, & sect. It has the glorious tradition of preserving water rights form the era of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The incidence of Panja Sahib is a witness to it. The Panja Sahib symbolise that, the water is for all and the water is fundamental, natural and basic right of every living creature on the Earth. But, it is really ironic that the land, which is named after the five rivers "Punjab", is endangered to become the land without water that is-"Be-Aab". Moreover the present situation of water resources in Punjab is highly critical. Already by losing her three rivers due to partition of India; the present Punjab is now the land of mainly two rivers only i.e. Satluj and Beas. As some reports indicate that water flow is alarmingly going down in both of these rivers is also an issue of great worry. The Himalayan glaciers are melting down; the overall water flow is decreasing causing great ecological-imbalance in the region. Due to loss of massive forest cover in Shivaliks resulting in drying up of several sub-rivers, natural streams and revaluates making the foothills of Punjab a water scared area. As a result the ground water availability in Punjab is drastically hampered. At present Jayanti, Budki, Siswan the three major tributaries of river Satluj flowing through the District Ropar have been vanished. They are no more revaluates now. It is fate of ‘Patiala ki Roh’ and several other streams originating from Shivaliks. Where as famous ‘Kali Bein River’ has lost her character as a river. The "Kali Bein" originates from two Bawries adjoining "Tarkiana-Naryanpur" wetlands, and has religious, spiritual and social significance for the people of Punjab, as Guru Nanak Dev took a holy dip in the river "Kali Bein" at Sultanpur Lodhi. But we turned it into an open sewerage only. Thanks to Sant Balbir Singh of Sinchewal who took a Kar-sewa to revive this holy river. But several other rivers- revaluates are not so lucky as they are bound to remain dirty .The Buddha Nallah another major tributary of river Sutluj is most contaminated stream at Ludhiana, containing heavy amount of deadly pollutants. We can count several streams in this class namely – Chitti Bein, Charan Ganga and others. The rivers -Tangri and Ghaghar which were once caters the entire area through out the year now can be seen as dead rivers full with heaps of sand in other seasons then monsoon, when it play havoc in the area creating floods and devastation.

Another alarming situation one can easily observe in Punjab, is destruction of wetlands, natural reservoirs and ponds. Wetlands plays major role in recharging ground water and sustaining required moisture in soil and surface. But Punjab is about to lose her wetlands not only due to wrong planning but also due to criminal negligence and greedy deeds of mankind. Punjab had already lost its several wetlands. The great Bhupindra Sagar Lake in Sangrur district, which was once known as favorite hunting spot of Maharaja Bhupindra Singh of Patiala, is no more now. The mighty Bhupindra Sagar was once spread over the area of 1280 Hectares. The list of disappeared wetlands is an indication of devastation, which is knocking the door of Punjab. Few of districted wetlands are Chhangli Chhamb – 1000 Ha, Chhangli Tabo-140 Ha, Chhamb gurditwala Ferozpur-100 Ha, sangeri Mansa-41 Ha, Sharmkot Gurdaspur-12 Ha, Gaunspur chhamb Hoshiarpur-100 Ha, Jandwal Chhamb Hoshiarpur-100 Ha, Rahon De Chhamb Jallandhar 300 Ha. The one of major wetlands in Punjab "Tarkiana" wetland near Dasuha, is no more on ground, remains only on papers. Other wetlands as Jasterwal, Khanuwan, Lobana (near Nabha), Mand Bharthala, Rababsar and Bareta are the worst victims of man-made disaster and ignorance. The Lobana wetland is almost dead though government considers it a wetland on papers; wetland is loosing its area to encroachments. This is the common fate of all natural wetlands of Punjab. But, man-made wetlands are also facing almost similar threats. The wetland eco-system along with river eco-sphere in Punjab is passing through very critical stage and this entire scenario