With Gomti flow depleting, ‘Venice of Awadh’ lost in time

The city of Lucknow on the banks of river Gomti has been in existence since the sixteenth century at least, though the older settlements were at least 5000 years old. The Kartik Mela on the banks of the Gomti near Pucca Pul is historical, being organised since early sixteenth century. The empire of Akbar was divided into fourteen provinces. Awadh was one of them. The capital of Awadh was in Faizabad, situated on the Saryu, a tributary of Ghagra. Sheikhzada ruled over Awadh before Nawabs.

When Saadat Khan was appointed Subedar of Awadh in 1722, he marched to Lucknow for the first time, crossing the Gomti at Gaughat and captured the city from the Shaikhzadas, who had defied the might of the empire since the days of Akbar. A naked sword used to hang at Shaikhan Darwaza, the main entrance to the fort. Saadat Khan pulled down the sword and took possession of Pachmahla.

The construction of Stone Bridge (Old Pucca Pul) was started by Safdar Jang, who was the second Nawab. However, it was completed by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah. Declaring the old bridge unsafe in early 1900s, the British demolished it and raised Hardinge Bridge known as Laal Pul.

The history of Chattar Manzil (old CDRI building) is also connected with the Gomti. It had two basement floors and several tunnels opening in different parts of Lucknow, including one opening at Gaughat. Even boats were deployed in those underground tunnels opening to the Gomti. During the riverfront project, a historical structure surfaced near Kudia Ghat. This was part of Machchhi Bhavan (Fort) which sprawled across a huge area covering

CURRENTLY, THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS A MAJOR OBSTRUCTION OF FLOW AT KUDIA GHAT BY AN EARTHEN DAM BUILT IN 2015.

the present day Bara Imambara, Naubat Khana, Tiley wali Masjid until Gomti River. The structure which surfaced during excavation near Pucca Pul, was part of Machchi Bhavan campus, which the British blew up with gunpowder during the war of 1857.

Till 1984, there were only six major drains discharging waters into the Gomti –Sarkata, Pata, Mohan Meakins, Martyrs Memorial, Paper Mill and Haider Canal. The flow of water into the Gomti is steadily getting depleted and water quality is also deteriorating. There are total 37 nullahs draining into the Gomti from Sitapur Bypass up to Shaheed Path. The peak discharge of nullahs draining from Right side (sis Gomti) is 660 MLD and peak discharge of nullahs draining from Left side (trans Gomti) side is 513 MLD. Jal Nigam and Nagar Nigam can only handle 401 MLD sewage water coming from above nalas. Rest of the sewage water directly flows into the river. The dissolved oxygen content in the river water before it enters the city ranges from 8 to 10 mg/ litre and it is reduced to less than 2 mg/ litre by the time it emerges out of the city at Pipraghat. Aquatic life cannot survive in this water, especially after Kudia Ghat.

At Gau Ghat, there is a raw water intake; around 250 MLD of water is pumped everyday for supplying to old Lucknow after treating it at Aishbagh water treatment plant. Three major drains meet at this point: Nagaria drain (10 MLD flow), Sarkata drain (34.57 MLD flow) and Pata drain (18.54 MLD flow). Though there is a Sewage Treatment Plant at Daulatganj to tackle the discharge from these three drains, the flow in them has increased manifolds due to increasing population.

Currently, the biggest problem is a major obstruction of flow at Kudia Ghat by an earthen dam which was built during 2015, before starting the riverfront development project. The plan was to divert the flow through a small escape channel for the purpose of drying the river channel for dredging work. Due to this dam, there is a major building up of pollutants upstream resulting in loss of water quality and growth of water hyacinth. Now this dam should be removed to improve the flow. There is already a barrage further downstream that allows maintenance of water level.

The water quality starts declining severely after Gau Ghat. Shrinking river bed, more bridges to facilitate increasing traffic, sewage discharge, solid wastes have collectively reduced this river into a dead canal beyond this point.

There is very little chance that the river will react like it did during floods of 1962, converting Lucknow into ‘Venice of Awadh’.