UP: Migrants' river revival feat in 'Mann Ki Baat'

LUCKNOW: After their traumatic trek back home during the lockdown, when 300 migrant labourers toiled in the harsh summer to revive a dead river in their native Barabanki district , little did they imagine their effort would draw praise from none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat on Sunday.

The now brimming Kalyani river, which winds its way through a popular pilgrimage site in Barabanki had turned into a trickle, before migrants employed under the flagship MNREGS picked up the spade to breathe life into a parched stretch.

On Sunday, while addressing people in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the PM mentioned revival of the Kalyani river.

Dug-up silt used to erect bunds along banks of Kalyani

You would be seeing many inspiring stories of migrant labourers. In Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki, they restored the natural form of Kalyani river after returning home. While staying in isolation, the way migrant labourers changed things around, is commendable, Modi said.

The blueprint to revive Kalyani river was hammered out three months ago when the district administration decided to employ 100 workers to dig 3km of a heavilysilted water body from Mawaiyya in Bishunpur tehsil of Barabanki district. Additional commissioner, MNREGS, Yogesh Kumar, said, revival of dry rivers, including Kalyani was taken up in various parts of the state,” he said.

The state government had earmarked a budget of Rs 59 lakh under MNREGS for restoration of Kalyani river. The rural development department , while setting a deadline of June 30, was able to generate 30,000 man days by making the river bed 1.5m deep and 25m wide along its course. Later, district officials engaged another 200 migrants. The dug-up silt was used to erect bunds along both its banks, even as the river fed by the monsoon sprung to life and began flowing.

The source of the 170km river is Dhannag lake, a pilgrimage centre on Barabanki-Sitapur border.

Authorities hope the restoration work will ensure smooth flow of the river, which merges with a Gomti tributary in Ayodhya. A campaign to restore Kalyani was launched in 2013, but it drew the administration’s attention recently, when it planned to provide employment to hundreds of workers who returned home following the pandemic-induced lockdown.