Yeida set to revive 116 ponds along Yamuna Expressway

The Yamuna Expressway industrial development authority (Yeida) along with the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration will rejuvenate at least 116 ponds, which are in a bad shape due to encroachments along 165km Yamuna Expressway, authority officials said on Monday

The Yamuna Expressway industrial development authority (Yeida) along with the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration will rejuvenate at least 116 ponds, which are in a bad shape due to encroachments along 165km Yamuna Expressway, authority officials said on Monday.

Yeida set to revive 116 ponds along Yamuna Expressway

The move comes after instructions from the Uttar Pradesh government to revive them at the earliest, sources added. Earlier, the state government had directed the Noida authority to identify and rejuvenate ponds in order to recharge the groundwater table during the rainy season, officials added.

“We have directed the land department to profile the 116 ponds properly so that we can start the rejuvenation process of these waterbodies. The land department will coordinate with the administration to carry out the rejuvenation work,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer (CEO), Yeida.

The Yeida controls 96 villages in which it has identified land for planned development along the Yamuna Expressway that connects Greater Noida with Agra. The ponds are located in these 96 villages that fall in Gautam Budh Nagar and Bulandshahr districts.

The Yeida has also notified around 250,000 hectares of land for the planned development along Yamuna Expressway, out of which around 20,000 hectares have been already acquired, an authority official said.

The ponds have been dying a slow death because groundwater is depleting very fast in the region due to infrastructural works. Some of these ponds have been encroached upon and almost all have depleted water level, said officials.

“We have directed the land department that if needed, they can take help from the district administration and remove all encroachments to rejuvenate the waterbodies. We will also try to engage villagers in the process so that the ponds stay free of encroachments in the future,” CEO Singh added.