Sukhna Lake

Location: in the foothills of Shivalik range

Highlights: manmade lake

Things to do: boating

Map:

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Sukhna Lake is a beautiful lake that lies in the foothills of Shivalik range. The unique thing about Sukhna is that it is a manmade lake. It is a 3 km long lake that was created in the year 1958. It was done by damming the Sukhna Choe, which is a seasonal stream flowing down from the Shivalik hills. Sukhana Lake of Chandigarh, India has become an integral part of the city

People visit this place in the morning to enjoy the cool breeze and the beauty of nature. Chandigarh Sukhna Lake serves as a great picnic spot and an apt place for pursuing water sport activities like boating, yachting and water skiing etc. The atmosphere over here is very serene and thus apt for meditating. Also, you can savor the melodious humming of birds. People come here in the evening time to forget their worries and relax for a while. So, if you want to rejuvenate yourself, then Sukhna Lake is the perfect destination for you.

The creation of the lake was one of the greatest gift from Le Corbusier and the Chief Engineer P L Verma to the city of Chandigarh. To preserve its tranquility Corbusier insisted that it be forbidden to motor boats and the top of the dam (promenade) prohibited to vehicular traffic. The lake is fringed by a golf course to the south, and Nek Chand's famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh to its west. 

New funds for development

Chandigarh Administration has finalized new plan for Sukhna Lake and New Lake in Sector 42 with Rs 2.73 crore which has also been received from Union Government.^[3]

Due to silting which although has reduced in the last decade has taken its toll and now the volume of the lake from its initial one has been reduced to 56%. This year (2010) due to the onset of summers in the mid of the March there is some good news - the work of desilting can be undertaken at a war footing as most of the water cease to be there and dry dreding can be undertaken at a fraction of cost to save Sukhna in the coming years. There will be 6 months for the dreding to take place and simple earth moving equipments can be deployed at the regulator end to remove the silt which has dried up and the basin of the Sukhna is getting enlarged everyday.