Parks no solutions to save river, say eco activists

Even as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) unravels its plans of building a bio-diversity park along the Yamuna River, a section of environmentalists have started raising objections, claiming that the move could well be counter-productive. Darpan Singh reports.

Even as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) unravels its plans of building a bio-diversity park along the Yamuna River, a section of environmentalists have started raising objections, claiming that the move could well be counter-productive.

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Manoj Misra of NGO Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, on whose petition the National Green Tribunal is monitoring removal of debris from the riverbed, said, "DDA must think beyond landscaping and concrete structures.

"Even if they use jute structures to set up these parks (concrete is not allowed in riverbed) their maintenance will need massive manpower and expenditure," Misra stated. He said he would appeal to the tribunal, where DDA's plan will finally be submitted on May 23.

"There is a practice called agro-biodiversity. Why cannot the government let farmers do the job and protect the riverbed in the most natural way and with least interference.

Legitimate farmers are the best keepers of the riverbed as can be gauged from the fact that there is little or no dumped debris in areas where active farming has been happening," he said.

Misra has already written to Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, who is also DDA chairman, saying that the development authority should not evict farmers but renegotiate the terms of the lease with a provision that only subsistence and strictly natural, organic farming shall be permissible in an agro-bio-diverse manner.