In news– Recently, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann was admitted to hospital, days after drinking a glass of water directly from the Kali Bein, a rivulet which is of great significance to Sikh religion.
About Kali Bein(Black rivulet)
- Kali Bein is a rivulet in Punjab, India that flows into the confluence of the rivers Beas and Satluj at Harike.
- It is believed that Guru Nanak Dev ji attained enlightenment after taking a bath in the Kali Bein.
- When Guru Nanak Dev was staying at Sultanpur Lodhi with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the Kali Bein.
- Guru Nanak Dev Ji is said to have disappeared while bathing in the Bein only to reappear three days later. Guru Nanak Dev Ji then proclaimed that “There is no Hindu and there is no Musalman. There is only one God and all are equal before Him”.
- The moolmantra of Sikhism, Ik Onkar, originated from this experience.
- The Gurudwara Ber Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to meditate under a ber tree, is located on the Kali Bein’s banks in Sultanpur Lodhi.
- The 165-km rivulet starts from Hoshiarpur, runs across four districts and meets the confluence of the rivers Beas and Sutlej in Kapurthala.
- Along its banks are around 80 villages and half a dozen small and big towns. Waste water from there as well as industrial waste used to flow into the rivulet via a drain, turning its waters black, hence the name Kali Bein (black rivulet).
- The Kanjli Wetland, a Ramsar site is supported by the Kali Bein.
Kali Bein cleaning project-
- It was started in July 2000 by environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, a former Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) member, with a handful of followers, without government help.
- They removed weeds, treated the water and spread awareness among residents. Six years of hard work paid off when then President A P J Abdul Kalam visited the site in 2006 and praised them for their effort.
- The then Congress government in Punjab then announced that it would take up the project to stop the discharge of untreated water into the rivulet.
- Today, around 30 to 40 villages and towns have illegal colonies that are discharging untreated water into the Kali Bein. Every year, a large number of fish die in the Kali Bein because of lack of oxygen in the polluted water.
- At one stage, the project had become a role model for river cleaning missions. The ‘Kali Bein Model’ was cited as the blueprint for the National Mission for Clean Ganga.
- Uma Bharti, then Union Minister for Water Resources, River Project and Ganga Rejuvenation, visited the Kali Bein in 2015, and called it a Guru Sthan for the Ganga project.
- The Delhi government too had announced that it would adopt the model for cleaning the Yamuna.
- The project has been slow for years after having made remarkable progress in the initial years.
Source: The Indian Express
