Mission 'baoli cleaning' for students

Four Delhi University students, along with experts, will take up the cleaning work of two baolis located in Mehrauli in south-west Delhi, in order to recharge them and link to the city’s water supply system.

The students came up with the idea last December. They surveyed around 13 baolis (stepwells) in Delhi, mapped their architecture and water quality and selected two among them to develop into ‘model baolis’ this year.

The plan includes recharging these stepwells to enhance the city’s water table by using them as rainwater harvesting structures. The baolis will be connected to pipes used in households to collect rainwater. The water can then be used by the areas located in the neighbourhood of the particular baolis.

“Delhi is a water deficient city. If the baolis are restored, they can be of help in water conservation which can to some extent solve the water shortage problem,” said Medieval History professor and baoli expert Nirmal Kumar, who is overseeing the project.

As a first step in this direction, a team of Delhi Universty (DU) students along with Kumar and other activists will start the process of manual cleaning of baolis – Gandhak ki baoli and Qutub Bakhtiar Kaki Dargah ki baoli – soon.

“The baolis are covered with muck currently. Gandhak ki baoli is five-storey deep and one full storey is filled with sewage water. The people residing near it use it for wazoo (a ritual performed by Muslims) but it is a sad thing that they are forced to use the sewage water,” said Kumar.

“We will remove stones underneath the baoli to allow water to seep into the ground. Our plan is that after we clean the baolis, we will approach the Delhi Jal Board to link them with the existing water system. This could be done by connecting the baolis with the neighbouring areas through pipes after which rainwater will reach them,” he said.
The Delhi Jal board has been intimated about the project.

Ana Sinha, one of the students in the team said, “We actually started with Agarsen ki baoli because it is a famous hangout spot but we found that the water level is nil and it would need a lot of work, while the other two had a lot of potential. So we will start with filtering the water, deslit the bed, and then start harvesting”.

Other students involved in the project include Abhinav Gholap, Abhinit Ghopal, and Manali. According to Kumar, response by the government and ASI till now has been tepid.
“INTACH had started a project to clean the baolis with a budget of Rs 7 lakh but they left it halfway,” he said.

One year timeline has been set by the team to finish the cleaning process, which will be taken up on weekends.