DDA begins drone survey of parks along river floodplains

The Yamuna enters Delhi near the Palla floodplains and exits the city near Jaitpur, covering an approximate distance of 52km

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has started to survey via drones its biodiversity parks and other restoration projects along the floodplains of the Yamuna, after the river swelled and inundated parts of the city following heavy rainfall in the Capital and northern states upstream, officials aware of the development said on Thursday.

Officials said that certain areas along the floodplains are still inundated with as much as a foot of water, and the damage to these parks and projects can only be calculated once the water recedes further. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photo)

The Yamuna enters Delhi near the Palla floodplains and exits the city near Jaitpur, covering an approximate distance of 52km. DDA has 10 diversity parks and restoration projects along the river’s floodplains that are at various stages of development — Asita East, Kalindi biodiversity park, Kalindi Aviral, Asita West, Amrut biodiversity park, Yamuna Vanasthali (Yamuna biodiversity park) , an ecotourism area from Geeta Colony to ITO barrage, Mayur nature park near DND flyway, Hindon Sarovar, and the Wazirabad barrage to Old Railway Bridge ghat.

Officials said that certain areas along the floodplains are still inundated with as much as a foot of water, and the damage to these parks and projects can only be calculated once the water recedes further.

“It is very difficult to predict anything at this moment. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We did a lot of plantations this year. The chances of survival (of the saplings) are not very good, keeping in view the level of water that it had reached this year. However, we will do a damage assessment after water recedes further. We did drone surveys of the floodplain, which will help us with the assessment,” said a senior DDA official.

The official, declining to be named, said though the water level is gradually receding, it will leave behind marshy land that will take months to be dry enough to carry out plantation drives.

According to DDA officials, this year alone, 79,130 trees and 2,930,990 riverine grasses were planted during various drives along the Yamuna floodplains. They said that trees may not survive being submerged under stagnant water for several days, but the riverine grasses may pull through as these are meant to survive in flood conditions.

Experts, meanwhile, said that some plants and grass species are meant for riparian zones and floodplain areas may survive even after remaining surrounded by water.

“There was flooding and the Yamuna reclaimed its old historical ranges to a large extent. Water is still there but the plants are very happy at DDA’s Yamuna Biodiversity Park, and we expect hardly any loss of plantation. This is because scientific plantation was done after extensive surveys, wherein we studied the flood pulse of the last 25 years and only used suitable species,” said Faiyaz Khudsar, eco-restoration expert and scientist in-charge of DDA’s biodiversity parks programme.

Khudsar said that a river is not simply the main channel, but has various zones that include a riparian zone closest to the river bank, an active floodplain, an old alluvium floodplain, an embankment, and upland outside the embankment. All these zones of a river have ecological integrity to make a river a functional ecosystem and plantation should be done according to the needs of every zone, he said.

“The riparian zone usually sustains specific grass species and some other plants such as paspalum, typha, phragmites and marsilea. There should be sporadic tree plantation in this riparian grassland. Further away in the old alluvium zone, thick forest plantation can be done,” said Khudsar.

Meanwhile, other agencies in the city are winding up flood control efforts, following which damage assessment with respect to plantation and horticulture work will be done. Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials said that sanitation work across the city is still going on. Meanwhile, Public Work Department (PWD) officials said that the pumping out of water, especially from areas around ITO, has been finished and damage assessment will take about a week.