The untold story of Khan River

The khan river that flourished where people had their bath, where friends laughed and families had a vacation, the crops were sown,  though that  time  is all lost and all we have is a memory says - DR. Vyas

The city of Indore was founded along the banks of the Khan river by the Holkar dynasty. It was an outcome of the Mandsaur Peace Treaty signed between the East India Company and Maharaja Malhar Rao Holkar in 1818.

We developed a lot since then a lot of Industries and Mills have been developed. But what was Indore in the 60’s it was greener and much cooler my grandfather tells me it was bliss the whole Navlakha square was a forest in which they were nine lakh mango tree clean river was flown from now the heart of the city Palasia and Navlakha square as we see the  Sewage (Nallah)  passing by the road which is covered by the walls and fencing. 

If you ever look behind the wall you will find nallah behind it.

That black Nallah was a river a 21 km stretched River that later joins Shipra, which further joins into Chambal, then the Yamuna and finally into the Ganga river.

The Beginning of the Problem 

The problem began in the '60s and '70s. It was the time when Indore witnessed a rapid wave of Industrialization. Few cared for the burden of the waste that this development produced. It eventually went into the rivers, as the infrastructure remained underdeveloped. 

Khan has turned into a sewage dump yard, where many industries have been dumping solid as well as liquid wastes into it, since the rapid Industrialization in the '70s.

As an additional load, the household drainage is also dumped into the Khan without any purification or cleaning.

The combined total capacity of the existing sewage treatment plants is not more than 90 MLD. In other words, approximately 190 MLD of untreated sewage is added each day to the Khan river, which eventually pours into the Kshipra.

"The very river that was the reason for the foundation of the city is now put to an end by its growth".

The khan river was not always a nallah we had a bath in it and the daily pooja was done. It actually was a river says - Prof Meenakshi.

The problem is not only limited to khan river as Khan later joins Shipra, but the Khan river is also the biggest source of contamination for the Shipra, the holy rivers of Hinduism, the city of Ujjain.



GOVERNMENT AID

The plight of the Khan river was first noticed by the Union Government. In 1985, the then State Minister for Housing and Environment Mahesh Joshi got New Delhi's nod for a flood control project that was to revitalize the Khan.

However, the plan to clean the river was aborted even before it began. The Centre scuttled it stating that Khan was just a Nallah, not a River.

Similar projects for the revival of the Khan were chalked out in 1992, 2006 and 2011. But, none of them came to fruition.

THE CHANGE 

A social activist Kishore kodwani started the fight and filed a PIL for the rejuvenation of the Khan river and had bear some fruits. The National Green Tribunal's (NGT) has ordered the Indore municipal corporation and the government to clean up the river

"Four rivers of the Madhya Pradesh- Chambal, kshpira, Khan, and betma have been specifically shortlisted by the national green tribunal as most polluted ones of the state and will be taken up for cleaning on 'war footing'.

 A River  Rejuvenation Committee (RRC)  has also been formed to make an action plan but no groundwork has started by the government. Every month the meeting is held but no actions are being taken.

It's an insult of the NGT itself as months have been passed by but no work has been done. 

But now what will happen? will this project see it's end before it begins???