Neela Hauz lake to get a new life

A bio-diversity park will come up around the Neela Hauz lake after its restoration once the ongoing work for a flyover on Aruna Asaf Ali Road is completed, reports HT Correspondent.

A bio-diversity park will come up around the Neela Hauz lake after its restoration once the ongoing work for a flyover on Aruna Asaf Ali Road is completed.

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The residents and NGOs from the area under the banner Citizens’ Group for Protection of Neela Hauz had alleged that the ancient water body was shrinking due to indiscriminate dumping of mud and debris from the flyover work.

The members of the group met Lt Governor Tejender Khanna, who directed the authorities concerned not just to restore the lake to its original condition after the construction is complete, but also to come up with a bio-diversity park around it.

The Neela Hauz lake is the only natural water body in the posh neighbourhood of South Delhi and is vital for recharging the ground water table.

According to Jyoti Sharma, a member of the Citizens’ Group, after the meeting with the LG, the PWD officials have been asked to meet the group regularly once a month and apprise them of the developments and discuss problems related to the issue. “It was at this meeting, that the Lt Governor directed the authorities to ensure that Neela Hauz lake is restored to its original condition once the work is over and also that a bio-diversity park be created”.

Confirmed officials from Khanna’s office, “PWD has outsourced the work of the flyover to a private contractor. It is embedded in the contract that he has to restore the lake after the flyover”.