DDA to take over 650 water bodies in newly urbanised villages

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is in the process of taking over from the Delhi government nearly 650 water bodies, located in 168 rural villages that have been “urbanised”, said a senior official aware of the development.

The addition will take the number of water bodies under DDA from 155 to 835, he added.

“Currently, we are carrying out physical verification before taking over a water body. So far, we have completed the verification of over 500 water bodies. Once the process is complete, we will do a survey to prepare a list of water bodies that can be revived and plan for their restoration in a phased manner,” said the DDA official cited above.

A senior Delhi government official from the revenue department said, “The process of transferring the gram sabha land to DDA is almost complete. Once a village is urbanised, the Land Revenue Act becomes void and all the land comes under the central government. The water bodies in these urbanised villages also come under the purview of the central government.”

DDA is undertaking the revival of over 50 water bodies. at the moment. “We started the process last year and have revived around 30 water bodies so far. We are preparing site specific plans for the others,” the DDA official said.

The 30 water bodies are located in Rohini, Pitampura, Dwarka, Hauz Khas, Mayur Vihar, Tughlaqabad and Dheerpur, among others. To revive some of them, the DDA is planning to use treated water from sewage treatment plants (STPS).

The DDA official said, “There are many water bodies which receive dirty water from nearby drains. We are trying to set up STPS to treat the water and meet two objectives -- irrigate the parks and ensure good quality water in the waterbody.”

Eighty-nine rural villages in 2017 and another 79 such villages last year were declared urbanised for the implementation of the land pooling policy. “Once a village is declared urbanised, the gram sabha land is transferred to the DDA. We have almost completed the process. Now, the DDA can plan the development of these areas,” said the official.

Environmentalist Diwan Singh, who has been working on reviving water bodies, said, “Using treated water from STPS should be discouraged and storm water should be used wherever possible... There is a need to develop woodland around the water bodies.”