Sultanpur Lodhi in the Kapurthala district of Punjab is in the spot light as huge celebrations have been planned to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev a fortnight away.
Even before that, celebrated environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal will host a two-day world environment conference on November 2 and 3 in the district, which is associated with Guru Nanak. Not surprisingly, the conference will connect environment and the Guru, and be attended by many well known experts, activists and leaders.
The focus will be on deterioration of environment in Punjab, and how people can work to prevent this. The Niti Ayog had, in one of its reports, said by 2020, many states would face droughts, and five cities from the land of five rivers—Punjab—feature in the list.
The Kali Bein is the rivulet in which a young Guru Nanak took a dip disappeared for a few days. As the legend says that he returned as an enlightened man. The Gurbani also traces its origins to the banks of what has now attained the stature of the 'Holy Kali Bein', for the first lines are 'Pawan Guru, Paani Pita, Manta Dharat Mahat', meaning the air is our guru, the water our father, and the earth our great mother.
The rivulet had turned into a dirty little drain, till Seechewal cleaned the 160km long tributary with the help of his volunteers. His work began in 2007, and those who saw the “Baba” clean it up with his own hands, joined in his efforts.
The two-day conference, will discuss the importance of water in every religion, besides topics like how to connect youth with nature, and finding solutions for environmental problems. The Seechewal model of river regeneration, treatment and reuse of contaminated waters, adopted by the government of India as part of its Namami Gange Programme, will be the star of the first day's sessions.
