Work on Saraswati Revival Project launched in Haryana

Haryana assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal on 21 April 2015 inaugurated the excavation work on the Rs 50-crore Saraswati Revival Project at Rolaheri village in Yamunanagar district of Haryana.

Features of the Saraswati Revival Project
• In the first phase, the excavation work for the Saraswati River would be done in eight villages from Rola Heri to Sandhai.
• A check dam would be constructed in Somb River to store rain-water, which will be diverted to Saraswati.
• It has also been proposed that a reservoir would be constructed in the village of Chhallour over an area of 400 acres.
• The Irrigation Department is conducting the technical survey of the dam and reservoir.

Benefits of the project
The integrated project would cover several aspects like flood protection, promotion of eco-tourism and pilgrimage tourism, water conservation, improving ecological balance among various other things.

Earlier, the initial excavation work of the River was undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

About Saraswati River
The Saraswati River is one of the main Rigvedic Rivers. It is mentioned in Rig Veda (period existed in 1700–1100 BC) and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts. Nadistuti hymn in the Rig Veda (10.75) mentions that the Saraswati flows between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west.

Some Later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata mention that the Saraswati dried up in a desert.

The river plays an important role in Hinduism, as Vedic Sanskrit as well as the first part of the Rig Veda mentions that the Vedic people lived in its banks.