Surghat, Banseera on Yamuna floodplains concretised, CPCB tells NGT
The CPCB inspected the Yamuna floodplains for six major projects this July, following the NGT’s directions, after the green tribunal took suo motu cognisance of a media report in April, and asked the CPCB to submit a detailed report on the status of these projects and encroachments
New Delhi
Concretisation and encroachments have been recorded at Surghat and Baansera on the Yamuna floodplains; at the same time, illegal structures are being removed from other spots, such as the Vasudev ghat and the Millennium Bus Depot, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Referring to Surghat, which lies between the Wazirabad barrage and the old railway bridge, CPCB, in its report dated August 6, said there were multiple concrete structures on site, with the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) plan to de-concretise 50% of this area yet to commence.
“DDA has prepared a proposal for de-concretisation of Surghat in consultation with INTACH, the agency suggested by an expert committee in a report of October 2015. As per the recommendations of the experts in 2015...Surghat needs to be made more natural. The proposal or plan is yet to be implemented,” said CPCB in its report, highlighting that permanent structures, such as bathing pools for men and women, administrative buildings, separate changing rooms for men and women, generator rooms and local kiosks, have come up here.
A boundary wall with barbed wires is erected to separate the river and the ghat, and pathways for approaching the ghat are also tiled surfaces, the report said.
The CPCB inspected the Yamuna floodplains for six major projects this July, following the NGT’s directions, after the green tribunal took suo motu cognisance of a media report in April, and asked the CPCB to submit a detailed report on the status of these projects and encroachments.
CPCB said that Baansera, developed by DDA as an eco-friendly bamboo park, was found to have a casting yard belonging to the PWD next to it. The casting yard was erected by the PWD for the construction of the Barapullah Elevated Corridor Phase-III project and has a 12-foot-wide concrete road as well.
“The casting yard and concrete approach road...exist at the site. DDA has asked PWD to vacate the land, de-concretise the area and handover back the land to it,” CPCB said in its report.
For Millennium Bus Depot, a now-vacated site on the floodplains, CPCB said the roads utilised for the movement of buses still existed on the ground. However, satellite images from 2021 and 2022 show the structures that existed in 2021 had been removed by 2022.
At Vasudev ghat, CPCB said the ghat and pathways were being built with red stones, comprising umbrellas and elephant statues with concrete at the base. “Geo-satellite images of the site for 2013 and 2023 illustrate that the floodplain with some structures in 2013 are now free from those structures in 2023,” the report said.
For Asita East, CPCB said interlocking pavers that were permeable were used for 300 metres of the pathways. For the rest, around 90 hectares in total, only natural earth has been used.
Referring to a casting yard two kilometres from the Signature Bridge, CPCB said it belonged to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that came up in 2012. CPCB did not comment on whether this was an encroachment. Inspections were only carried out for these six sites, which were mentioned as part of the news article the NGT took cognisance of. Other sites, which are possible encroachments, like Akshardham, were not inspected.
Bhim Singh Rawat, a Yamuna activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), said this appeared to be more of a formality from the CPCB, than any conclusive action. “The body has simply made its observations, but fails to clarify the fact that any concretisation on the floodplains is illegal. These encroachments should be removed,” he said.
DDA and PWD did not respond to requests for comment.