Kali Bein River.

• Recently, Punjab Chief Minister has been admitted to hospital, days after he had drunk a glass of water directly from River Kali Bein.

What is the Kali Bein?

• 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).
• Dense grass and weeds grew on the water until a cleaning project started.

Why did Bhagwant Mann drink water from it?

• The occasion was the 22nd anniversary of the cleaning project, which had started on July 16, 2000.

Significance of the Kali Bein

• The Kali Bein is of great significance to Sikh religion and history, because the first Guru, Nanak Dev, is said to have got enlightenment here.
• When Guru Nanak Dev was staying at Sultanpur Lodhi with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the Kali Bein.
• He is said to have disappeared into the waters one day, before emerging on the third day.
• The first thing he recited was the “Mool Mantra” of the Sikh religion.

How did the cleaning project start?

• It was started by environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal (now AAP Rajya Sabha MP), 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.
• The government identified around 73 villages in three districts releasing sewer water into the Kali Bein.