About Badha Lake : Save Badha Lake Campaign - An effort to revive the Lost Wetland at Fazilka

Background

Badha lake is an ox bow lake found near the city of Fazlika in district Firozpur, Punjab. The town Fazlika, located about 85 km southwest of the district headquarter Firozpur and only 11 km away from the India-Pakistan border, owns its existence due to this lake. The lake is 150 acres in size and was fed by the Sutlej river. Till 1960, the lake was full of water and supported various species of migratory bird and the the groundwater was available at the depth of 4 m below the ground. Between 1844-1946, the lake was the source of drinking water for the town. The Indus Water Treaty in 1960 caused the Sutlej river to be truncated at Suleimanki Head Works by the Water Commission of the Central government, leaving it with no source of water. According to B. Singh, Professor of IIT, Roorkee, “The stretch of stream from Ferozepur to Fazilka hardly gets any water from Satluj; all the 105-kilometre stretch carries is waste from the leather industry of Kasur in Pakistan. This has affected the ecology badly and has left many such smaller horse-shoe lakes on its banks dry,"

The lake-bed is now listed as panchayat land in the local revenue department's documents and has been leased out for cultivation. The groundwater level has gone down to 30 m below the ground. In 2000, the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) submitted a report to the state Environment Department stating that the conservation of this wetland is essential.

The Sad Story

The prosperous town Fazilka of Firozpur district of the Punjab is irreparable in terms of lost water bodies which were there in the form of horse-shoe lakes which had grown by natural processes in thousands of years. The pen of Radcliffe built an un-natural boundary across this fertile land irrigated by five perennial rivers of over lakh of years. This unnatural boundary cultivated at the instance of leaders of the land caused damage, which cannot be corrected. The so called water commission which decided the distribution of these so called new sovereign states, not only caused migration of races and tribal which inhabited these plains, also caused damage to the terrain due to corrupt political attitudes. The international laws for using water of rivers, which pass through several political domains known as Riparian laws, were not followed and the result is the suffering of the people of the region who live on the newly formed tail of river Sutlej just ahead of Suleimanki Head Works (1910 vintage). The cultured societies in Europe, where river Rhine flows understand this business. The political leaders of these European countries understand what river means. They use the water and after it has performed its function, the water is fed back to the river in the same quality at which it was pumped from Rhine.

And our political governments don’t understand this business of water management and over use the water like under-educated persons, to cause unbearable sufferings to the people who have been oppressed for thousands of years by invaders coming to this land with recorded history commencing in 327 BC when Alexander came to this land. But our own ill informed sons of the soil have done indescribable damage by adopting water-gulping crops. May be, we can recover little bit of misery caused due to ill planned schemes. The judicious use of water can ameliorate our present sufferings

The huts of the encroacher on the lake bed

Major Losses to the City

More than 2 Lakhs hand pump become obsolete due to fall in Ground water Level (Picture 1 & 2)
A man around 50 Year of Age has become handicapped due to Fluorides in Ground Water (Picture 3)
Increased TDS (Total Dissolved Solid) in the ground water caused efflorescence (Salt Deposition). Picture 4 shows the external wall dried up with salt deposition after construction in year 2003.
Submersible pumps are the only alternative left for farmers (Picture 5)
The Unorganized Entrepreneurs are struggling to survive
The True Punjabi Spirit of doing honest work : Prantha maker on cart (Picture 6)
The Vegetable sellers have to reduce expenses by resorting to footpath selling (Picture 7)
Vehicles are loaded fully with the men and materials to extract the oil energy : Increasing Pollution level (Picture 8)
The obsolescence of irrigation system of Yore : Dried Wells (Picture 9)


Picture 1	Picture 2	Picture 3


Picture 4	Picture 5


Picture 6	Picture 7

Picture 8	Picture 9

Who are responsible for this damage?

The Central Government of India that devised the schemes for sharing the waters of the ancient five rivers of the Punjab through its agency known as Water Commission
The state Government of Punjab for not pleading for the International Riparian Laws.
The Beas and Bhakra Management Board for over and ill use of stored water without an effective and long range algorithm.
The government of Rajasthan and Mariana who wish to take away water of the Punjab rivers without any rights and not able to support with grains for the country due to mal management of the water and cropping schemes.

What are the rectifying steps?

The feeder for supplying water to the now dried up lakes at Badha and Asafwala near Fazilka town for replenishing the eco system.
The enlivening the Sutlej stream domain from Firozpur to Fazilka for optimised discharge for the farmers of Beit lands inhabited by tribes who can not even use the river for disposal of dead bodies as they were doing for ages.
Funds for recovery of damage done to the eco system with well managed plantations.
Distribution Piping system for dispensing potable water to the residents of the town
Provide mass scale Primary Education to educate the newly born generation to understand the conservation of resources.

Research By:
Dr Bhupinder Singh
Retired Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Department of Mechanical Engineering

(Urja Purash of Uttrakhand)

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