UTTAR PRADESH: Sot, the river that served as the lifeline of the Sambhal district of western UP, had dried up and was left to wither away until IAS officer Manish Bansal noticed the 110-km dried river bed and took on the responsibility of reviving it. He accomplished his mission within six months as district magistrate (DM) of Sambhal.
Now, Sot has a live stream with a natural flow that minimises waterlogging in the area. Till half a century ago, Sot, covering 70-odd gram panchayats across five development blocks, was a bubbling tributary of the mighty Ganges, providing adequate water to the region’s farmers for irrigation.
With time, it disappeared, leaving hardly any trace on the ground, thanks to the large-scale encroachment and massive neglect.
In 2022, 2013-batch IAS officer Manish Bansal assumed office as Sambhal DM. During one of his field visits, he found a stretch that seemed to be a riverbed. With hardly any water, it had turned literally non-existent.
“There was a small puliya (culvert) that was once made over the river was visible,” says Bansal, the then Sambhal DM, who is now helming neighbouring Saharanpur in the same capacity.
He adds that at many spots, the farmers had encroached on the riverbed and started growing crops.
According to Bansal, the river was encroached to the extent of losing its natural flow path downstream. Due to this, nearby areas would remain waterlogged during monsoon. “Earlier, the river acted as a natural drainage system for the area,” he adds. Not only did the Sot disappear, but the area’s water table decreased drastically, leaving the farmers dependent on borewells, which aggravated the water woes.
Upon realising the severity of the situation, the DM resolved to revive the river. A survey established that the river was 110 km long, starting from Amroha district in the north of western UP and flowing towards Budaun in the south of the same region. The officials were then directed to remove encroachments from the catchment areas. Well-versed in the nitty-gritty of farming, Bansal, who hails from Sangrur in Punjab, found removing encroachments along the river quite challenging.
“We sought the help of the revenue land records team to clear encroachments,” shares Bansal. The next step was desilting to remove fine silt and sediment collected in the riverbed.
According to Bansal, the district administration roped MGNREGA workers into cleaning and digging the riverbed afresh.
Started in December 2022, the project was completed in June 2023, enabling it to capture rainwater in the 2023 monsoons and reach its full glory. As many as 10,000 bamboo saplings were planted to prevent future soil erosion.
Moreover, after the monsoons’ withdrawal, the river returned to its glory for the next two and a half months. However, to keep it alive and full of water, several micro-check dams were built on it to slow the runoff in the channel.
Bansal, an electrical engineer from IIT-Delhi and a 53rd rank holder in UPSC, took up this endeavour, which the Prime Minister acknowledged in ‘Mann Ki Baat’ in September 2023.
“That encouraged all the officials and gram panchayats involved in the project. The endeavour and its accomplishment inspired the district officials of Amroha and Budaun who undertook the project of reviving the river downstream and upstream in both the districts, respectively,” shares Manish.