In ten hours, NRI cleans dead water reservoir, removes 35K ton of garbage

In what could be described as a real success story of Swachch Bharat campaign, an NRI and local administration of Barmer removed 35,000 metric tons of grabage and silt from an oldest reservoir just in a day.

On Saturday, January 6, 70 Dumpers, 7 Hitachi hydraulic excavators, 12 JCB diggers and 4 tractors were pressed into service to clean 2.6 ha (hectare) of the reservoir known as Kareli Nadi.

Barmer is located in Thar desert, right on the international border with Pakistan. Kareli Nadi was the sole source of drinking water for the city half a century ago, but was marginalised and neglected over the years.

Gradually, it became dumping yard with all kinds of waste, including carcasses, that were thrown here.

As a result, catchment area was nearly eroded, leaving little space to store water. The arrival of Indira Gandhi Canal further reduced administration and locals' interest in it.

In December 2017, District Collector, Shivprasad M. Nakate and Municipal Commissioner Gunjan Soni explored the possibility of restoring and renovating the water body.

Nawal Kishore Godara, an NRI and his brother Teeku Singh, both hail from Barmer, came forward and took upon themselves to revive the Kareli Nadi.

On January 6, the cleaning work was executed on the war footing. Once the garbage was removed, the fresh soil was spread around. Plantation has been done along the banks.

"It is a tribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his stress on water conservation and making India clean," says Godara.

Modi is visiting Barmer on January 16 to lay the foundation stone for Barmer refinery and Petrochemical Complex. He said on request of the administration he and his brother agreed to carry out the mammoth task. "But it was really a hell of a place before it was cleaned," he says.

No wonder, cleaning Barmer of grabage has given him and administration immense satisfaction.