Green ministry okays plan for rejuvenation of Luni river in Raj

Jodhpur: The ministry of environment, forest & climate change has approved the DPR for rejuvenation of Luni river, known as Maruganga. The river is one of 13 rivers in the country, which has been chosen for rejuvenation through forestry initiatives in pursuance of instructions from the ministry.

An amount of Rs 534.29 crore has been earmarked for the project, which will be executed by the forest department of Rajasthan with technical support from Arid Forest Research Institute (Afri) after financial sanction.

Afro director MR Baloch said the task of drafting the DPR had been given to Afri by the Indian Council for Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE), Dehradun.

“Afri completed the task after holding 20 local-level and 3 state-level consultative meetings with different stakeholders in a year like forest, agriculture, horticulture and soil conservation department apart from the entrepreneurs, farmers and NGOs etc”, said Baloch.

The 511-km long Luni river originating from Ajmer district with its 1,168 km long tributaries, has a total basin area spanning 41,000 square-kilometers. This rejuvenation programme aims at development of forest on both sides of the river as well as increase in ground water recharge and check on soil erosion, thereby improving the livelihood prospects of the people in the region.

According to project coordinator G Singh, a total of 21 models have been proposed in this report.

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