Hutments along Kukrail nullah may be shifted

LUCKNOW : After the directives of urban development minister Ashutosh Tandon, the irrigation department and Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) are jointly working on the plan of beautifying the banks of Kukrail nullah, the biggest natural drain of the city.

However, displacement of all the 875 encroachments marked by the district administration along the 26.5 km long nullah is a big issue in the beautification work.

Now the civic body and irrigation department will undertake a survey to decide where to shift the displaced families and beautification of the banks.

Historically, Kukrail drainage system has played a very important role in diverting the city’s rain water into river Gomti, especially areas like Indira Nagar, Takrohi, Adil Nagar, Jankipuram, Triveni Nagar and engineering college.

Kukrail nullah also feeds the river as a major source of ground water recharge in the area. However, it is now getting polluted because of rising encroachments.

Municipal commissioner Indramani Tripathi said that Kukrail was the most important and biggest nullah of the city. It carried the discharge of almost 120 nullahs and covered around 170km network of nullahs from trans-Gomti area. “It’s a major water system of Lucknow district and has tremendous value for river Gomti. That’s why it is important to keep it clean and free of encroachments because it’s a natural drain,” he said.

After removing the encroachments, the district administration has planned to plant trees on both sides of the nullah besides its beautification for strengthening the water charging capacity.

Some environmentalist have long been demanding removal of encroachments around the nullah.

Environmentalist VK Joshi said, “Natural drains like Kukrail nullah are rare and this nullah has served as the river bed of Gomti too. So it’s the duty of the authorities to remove the encroachments around the nullah but they must not fiddle with its natural system by trying to construct a retaining wall as it would lose its water recharging capacity.”