All eyes earlier this week were on the inauguration of the Mahakal Lok corridor by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ujjain.

This new, long stretch of pink stone corridor that has redefined the space around the Mahakaleshwar shrine, has at its heart today a large pool of water with a tiny island of shrubs in the centre.

But this pool, which is said to find mention in the scriptures, had until recently been a sewer covered with hyacinth and foul smell emanating from it.

But the efforts at reclaiming what was once called the ‘Mahakal Van’ or the garden of Mahakal, have restored it to being a clean waterbody that lines a large stretch of the corridor space.

As Swarajya visited the corridor upon inauguration, officials shared that it was indeed a humongous task but the results are very affirmative and encouraging.

“All the sewage lines and storm water used to come to the Rudrasagar because the topography of the region is such. So we started with Amrit Yojana, a central government scheme, to begin with and provided separate sewage lines and ensured no sewage flows into the lake,” explained Ujjain Smart City Ltd Superintendent Engineer Neeraj Pande.

“Also, given that the area around had a lot of slums, the use of single-use plastic and their disposal was also high, which would all end up in the Rudrasagar.

"So to stop that we created a system to catch the trash and had a 3 metre by 5 metre drainage system where the water was collected. Then we put in a mechanical separator that would segregate all the plastic and such waste material and then the water is bypassed into the lake” he adds.

To account for the water loss owing to evaporation and the like, and to ensure perennial water availability, it has been connected to the river Shipra by a channel.

“A water treatment plant that has been setup at the Shipra river which will then ensure water to this lake” Pande explained.

He shares that the effort already has begun to bear fruit as the roosting island that has been created in the middle of the Rudrasagar lake has birds coming to rest.

“It feels very happy when we see the birds come home to the island at sunset,” he shares. But the work has only begun, and various methods are being tried and tested to maintain the cleanliness of the water.

Dredging and desilting of over 1.80 lakh cubic metre had taken place that led to an increase in the depth of the lake by 1.5 metre.

The response feels rewarding on many fronts, he says, sharing an anecdote. “As we were sitting by the side of the lake just a few days before the inauguration, an elderly woman almost in her eighties walked upto me with her brother who had come from Ahmedabad.

"She said ‘I asked him to come see this because I hadn't seen water in it in my lifetime.' And she gave us a lot of ‘ashirvad’ for having made this possible.”

“Mythologically too, the Rudrakund is said to feed the kund inside the temple precincts. And we notice a change in its character too, as the water is clearer and the fishes too are visible.

"But the biggest challenge would be to ensure the cleanliness of the Rudrasagar given that it is a stagnant body of water and efforts are on in that direction,” he adds signing off.

The lake area is composed of the Bada Rudrasagar which 14.2 Ha and the Chota Rudrasagar which is 4.2 Ha and facilitates a total storage of 276 ML.

Work on the latter too is said to be completed as part of the phase 2 of the corridor project which is already underway, while the public dedication of the first phase took place this Tuesday (11 October).

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while taking stock of the progress of the work two days prior to the inaugural, urged people to ‘pick water from their villages and reach Mahakal Lok.'

"Rudrasagar which had almost vanished, and just mud was left in it, has now been revived. So, pick water from wells, baolis and other places in villages, and offer it to Rudrasagar, and see 'Shri Mahakal Lok'," said Chouhan inviting people to the rejuvenated space.