Indra Dev (God of Rain) is showering his blessings on Udaipur after three years. Almost every lake has emerged with its true magnificence and made us feel like blood rushing in our lifeless veins. There is nothing more important than rain for Udaipurites because that’s the reason of our survival, that’s the only reason for our joy and that’s the only key to the complete natural cycle of Udaipur and nearby areas.

Since last 15 days, one of the most beautiful lake Fatehsagar is receiving elixir, in form of water from madar and Swaroop Sagar Lake. But unfortunately, the water which is filling this thirsty lake is also pushing in something unwanted, dangerous and most disliked plant in it i.e. JAL KUMBHI.

As the water level of fateh sagar is increasing day by day it is becoming hot spot for locals and tourists but jal kumbhi is making the Serene Lake look ugly and smelly. This plant has a drawback of evaporating the lake’s water at a very fast rate. This fast vaporizing water will not only spoil the beauty to the lakes and the city, but it is also dropping the water level supplied for drinking.

Now With this mayhem around, this time Municipal Corporation has come out to be the savior. They have taken initiative of cleaning up this lake devil and reuse it in a different way.

From today itself, removal of Jal Kumbhi started in guidance of Mr. Shishir K. Varsiney, employee of Municipal Co. He stated that Jal Kumbhi is coming in Fateh Sagar from Swaroop sagar link channel. Irrigation department should have taken appropriate measures before monsoon but department was unable to do so due to lack of funds.

But to everyone’s surprise there is good news for us. This jal kumbhi, a completely useless plant will be given to Vidya Bhawan Society where this plant will be converted into handmade paper.

Mr. Rakesh Paliwal , Manager of cellulosic waste recycling education project at Vidya Bhawan Society informed us , how these heaps of waste will be used to make paper out of them. In this process they use 70% of jal kumbhi and 30% waste cotton clothes and mix them up. And the final product is obtained just by compressing, drying and without adding any chemicals.

Overall, Benefits of Making Paper Out of Jal Kumbhi are:

• Jal kumbhi is a weed harmful when in water but now it can be recycled to make useful paper. Leading to clean lakes of Udaipur.
• It will be a good substitute of conventional paper made out of wood. This will protect our environment in every way.
• This will generate employment in the city if properly planed and funded.
• This paper can be used for making bags which would be able to hold much heavy weight. This can be a good substitute of plastic bags.
• Products like dairies, photo frame and slip pad are made from eco-friendly paper.

Presently Vidhya Bhavan Society is funding this project. But to commercially launch this paper, a huge sum of money is required for which the institute is waiting for government or any private firm to invest in a planned way.

You may contact Mr. Rakesh Paliwal: 09413026451

Story covered by Sayeed Ahmed