Chandigarh, Nov 26 (IANS) Silting of the Sukhna Lake, which has drastically reduced the area of the prime tourist attraction here, has been brought under control through a series of corrective measures, an official said Thursday.

‘Until recently, the danger of Sukhna Lake drying up was staring us in the face, with its storage capacity reduced from 8,710 acre-feet in 1958 to about 2,600 acre-feet at present,’ said Ishwar Singh, Chandigarh’s conservator of forests, adding that the construction of 190 silt retention dams, supplemented by more than 200 check dams and brushwood structures, had drastically brought down the silting rate from 156 tonnes per hectare per year to five tonnes per hectare per year.

Excavated in 1958, Sukhna Lake had a very high silting rate 1960-70 because of the high rate of soil erosion. Up to 1988, 66 percent of the original water holding capacity of the lake had been lost due to silting.

The silt-reduction initiative has also helped in soil conservation in the 26 sq km hilly catchment area known as the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.

‘Our soil conservation measures, supplemented by massive afforestation, have made the neighbouring sanctuary an ideal habitat for numerous varieties of flora and fauna,’ Singh pointed out.