Beas river, the lifeline and a major tourist attraction of Kullu, will see a facelift very soon as Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with help of Himalayan Forest Research Institute is working on rejuvenation and conservation of this beautiful and holy river. Hundreds of crores rupees would be spent for the rejuvenation of all the major river basins of Himachal on the lines of Namami Gange Project - National Mission for Clean Ganga. On the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to preserve the river basins, a detailed project report (DPR) for rejuvenation, conservation and development of Beas river basin would be prepared shortly. The Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), the nodal agency for the project in Himachal, has started to complete all the formalities for the purpose. In its first step, the department of forest has been made a nodal department for preparation of DPR. A meeting was held at the office of forest department (wildlife wing), Kullu, where officials from different departments and municipal council took part. Similar meetings will held in other districts as well. Conservator of forest, Anil Sharma, said involvement of all the departments, civic bodies and local residents would be ensured to prepare a perfect DPR. “We shall include all aspects of conservation of forest, water, flood control, plantation, agriculture, horticulture, livelihood of locals and overall development in the DPR. The project report should be based on local circumstances and should meet expectations of residents,” he said. Project coordinator Dr Vineet Jishtu said HFRI has been made nodal agency to prepare DPR for five main rivers of Himachal where forest department will work as nodal department. He adds, “These are not just rivers carrying the water. A whole civilization is dependent on a river. We expect valuable suggestions from maximum people for
Beas river, the lifeline and a major tourist attraction of Kullu, will see a facelift very soon as Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with help of Himalayan Forest Research Institute is working on rejuvenation and conservation of this beautiful and holy river. Hundreds of crores rupees would be spent for the rejuvenation of
MANALI: The banks of Beas river, which wreaks havoc with devastating floods during monsoon season every year and attracts tourists with its charm, would soon be channelized and beautified at a cost of Rs 585cr. The plan is to channelize nearly 70km stretch of the river from Palchan village near Manali till Aut in Mandi district. The flooded Beas changes its course every year and has occupied hundreds of bigha of agriculture and forest land. The concrete walls would be built to control the river and protect its banks. The project, which was estimated at Rs 1,300 crore, also includes beautification of the river for tourism purpose. Many viewpoints would be developed for tourists along the Chandigarh-Manali national highway. “Rs 585cr have been sanctioned by Centre in the first stage. The work will start very soon,” Forest minister Govind Singh Thakur said. He added that the work would be executed in well planned manner. “A committee would be formed for this. We shall not compromise with quality. We are planning to develop some viewpoints near the river where tourists can enjoy charm of the Beas without putting lives in danger.” Beas has caused damages worth crores of rupees to public and private properties. Many have lost lives and many tourists lured by Beas have also been drowned. Flood in Beas in September 2018 had damaged protection walls from Manali till Mandi and also damaged the highway at many places. Kullu was most affected district in state where Beas destroyed everything that came on its way. The concrete walls will control its flow and also promote the safe tourism in Kullu. After demand from public the project got principal approval from Himachal government. The project plan was initially drafted by Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune. The plan consists
MANALI: The banks of Beas river, which wreaks havoc with devastating floods during monsoon season every year and attracts tourists with its charm, would soon be channelized and beautified at a cost of Rs 585cr. The plan is to channelize nearly 70km stretch of the river from Palchan village near Manali till Aut in Mandi
