Gurgaon Once had a River which is now Lost; Check its Name

Even though it may seem unbelievable, the Sahibi, a living river, once sliced through the glass and steel that is now Gurugram. Born from dry hills in Sikar, Rajasthan, the Sahibi River now flows through Alwar and Rewari, around Gurgaon in the northwest, past Najafgarh in western Delhi, and ends up meeting the Yamuna near Wazirabad. It also brushes past the northern edge of the Aravalli ridge (University of Delhi) in the capital.

The Sahibi, a river of history and memory, continues to exist today as a drain in both name and form. It continues to exist in Delhi as the stench-filled, dark, and suffocating water body known as the Najafgarh drain, which is choked with industrial filth.

The Sahibi River is deemed "ecologically dead" by experts.

Gurugram’s Lost River Sahibi

Even the slightest breeze might cause the Najafgarh nala to become noticeable during the sweltering summer months. Delhiites may attest to the stench of methane and hydrogen sulfide creeping into homes with the acrid tang of rotting.

Sahibi River Origin and Importance

Originating in the dry highlands of Rajasthan's Sikar district, the Sahibi River is a brief stream that stretches roughly 300 km. It passes through Jaipur, Alwar, Haryana, and Delhi.

In the past, it was an important seasonal river that supported livestock, agriculture, and even the demand for drinking water.

"In the past, the Sahibi was a river of pure water that was utilized for farming, raising livestock, and even drinking," Akash Phogat, a representative of an NGO that works with the Sahibi, told reporters.

Wetlands like the Najafgarh Jheel, a huge seasonal lake spanning more than 300 square kilometers, were originally supported by the river's course and functioned as a natural sponge for monsoon rainwater.

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Historical Changes in the River

The Sahibi basin is connected to sites from the Vedic era by archeological evidence.

During the Mughal Empire, a strong earthquake reduced the Sahibi's flow to Delhi even further and produced the Najafgarh jheel. However, colonial interventions started to change their trajectory by the 19th century.

Manu Bhatnagar, principal director of the Natural Heritage Division at INTACH, stated in the media that the British renamed the area the Najafgarh drain after excavating the uneven canal downstream of the Najafgarh Jheel in 1865 to drain the land for farming.

Sahibi River now a Najafgarh Drain

Sohail Hashmi, a historian, claims that the Najafgarh drain wasn't always a bad stream. Its waters were clean enough to support fish in the 1960s. He remembered how massive amounts of oil were inadvertently spilled into the drain from a vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oil) facility in Zakhira at the beginning of the 1960s. According to Down To Earth, a journal that focuses on environmental policies, the vanaspati hardened in the drain's then-clean waters because it was winter, and locals even collected it for domestic use.

Sahibi River is Ecologically Dead

The two sections of the Sahibi in Haryana that run along the northwest border of Gurugram are now "ecologically dead," contaminated, and cut off from the natural world. After a 40-kilometer channelized run in Delhi, it joins the Yamuna, although urbanization has erased its reputation as a flowing river.

Sahibi has now turned into a dirty drain. The usual suspects are untreated industrial wastewater discharge, uncontrolled urbanization, and inadequate infrastructure.

The river's waters have become completely black due to untreated sewage and industrial garbage from Delhi and Gurugram.

Water Drainage Problem in Gurugram

The main causes of Gurugram's current ongoing flooding and groundwater depletion are the city's lost streams and water bodies, as well as its deteriorated hydrology.

Only four of Gurugram's sixty natural canals remain, so even light rainfall floods the city's streets.

The Sahibi River, which was once a river of ecological harmony and remembrance, now only exists as a drain in name and form. The city needs to restore its natural drainage system, revitalize its lakes and water channels, and honor the hydrology that once defined it if it is to survive future monsoons and the future in general.

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