Admin
20 July 2024
The Badka Talab ( Ranchi Lake ) is undergoing a cleaning exercise undertaken by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.
The work started on Saturday. This is part of the RMC’s plan to use the “e-ball” mechanism invented by a scientist from Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, Dr Prashant Sharma.
Sharma is learnt to have invented a ‘Bacterial e-ball’ that helps in cleaning drains and dirty pond water. These e-balls also improve the pH value and TDS (Total Dissolved Solid) value of the water.
A truckload of e-balls, each consisting of tiny microbes, has to be used to clean the water of the lake from filth and Pistia stratiotes, also known as Jalkumbhi.
This lake, created by the British government to prevent floods caused by the flow of rainwater down from Ranchi Hill in 1842, has been subjected to decades of post-independence neglect.
In 2015, the BJP government launched a major cleanliness campaign from the very next day to free the water body of unwanted green growth and garbage.
A 33-foot-tall statue of Swamy Vivekananda and approach bridges were built by sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, best known for the Statue of Unity and the brains behind this metal creation at a cost of Rs 18.26 crore.
But there was no effort made by the state government Urban Development or the Ranchi Municipal Corporation to maintain the cleanliness of this Ranchi lake with the idol of Swamy Vivekananda.
As a result, the lake again became packed with the water body of unwanted green growth, garbage and Jalkumbhi. In addition, the lake carries plastic, kitchen leftovers, idol frameworks and unmentionables that have raised a barricade of sorts around the lake while the watercress is back with a vengeance too.
Now, the task before Dr Prashant Sharma’s outfit is to clean this lake through e- balls. As it is, these e- balls are prepared by mixing 14 types of fungus and bacteria with calcium carbonate (lime powder) in a ball that weighs around 40 grams. Sharma is on record telling the news agency ANI that “Bacterial e-ball consists of tiny microbes.
It is prepared by mixing 14 types of fungus and bacteria with calcium carbonate (lime powder) in a ball that weighs around 40 grams. We have worked for around 14 years in inventing the ball.
As soon as we put the bacterial e-ball in the dirty water of a pond or well, it cleans the upper layer of the water. It cleans the water by the nutritional use of carbon and nitrogen present in the ponds.
It brings the pH value of the water to 7 and also improves the TDS value. Besides, the COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) levels of the water are also improving by its uses.”
The residents of Ranchi seem to welcome the RMC’s move to deploy Sharma who have been using e- balls for the last few years. His company has used it in other municipal corporation ponds and drains. Besides, it has worked in two ponds each in Raipur and Bilaspur and gained success.
Also, e- balls are being used in the ponds of several cities of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. If Sharma is to be believed the use of bacterial e-balls is safe for the environment as well as for aquatic animals.
The method that was used earlier to clean the ponds was removing water than cleaning the pond and putting in clean water. It was very expensive and time-consuming. But there are a lot of benefits from the bacterial e-ball. It yields good results and it is being used in other ponds as well, it is learnt.
As per the plan of the RMC, the process to clean the Ranchi lake through e- balls will take more than 3-6 months. However, it is not known how, after the Ranchi lake water is cleaned by the scientist Sharma’s e- balls, its cleanliness will be maintained in the future.
