Central team in Barmer looks for traces of missing Saraswati
A two-member team from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) on Friday reached Barmer to explore possible remnants of the mythical Saraswati.
The CGWB members, OP Pooniya and Ramkishan Yadav, visited villages where the river is believed to have once flowed. The team took samples of ground water and gathered information about the depth of ground water available in the region.
The team was surprised to find groundwater at 100 to 150 m at some villages in remote desert area.
The villagers informed them that at some places, old tube wells and traditional water resources were recharged in the past five to ten years. “It is subject to investigation that how water tables shifted upward automatically and from which water bodies are getting recharge,” Pooniya said.
The Centre decided to dig wells in these areas following signs of existence of paleochannels of the Saraswati at five districts of western Rajasthan.
“The CGWB will dig 22 tube wells in Barmer and Jaisalmer districts to explore paleochannels of the river,” Pooniya said, adding that they would soon submit a report.
The Saraswati finds mention in the Rig Veda and other ancient literature.
It is believed to have disappeared some 4,000 years ago. Soon after coming to power in May 2014, the NDA government launched efforts to trace the mythical river.
In July 2015, the Vasundhara Raje government constituted the Rajasthan River Basin and Water Resources Planning Authority to study paleochannels of an inactive river.
MUKESH MATHRANI