YAMUNA MAFIAS ALIVE AND KILLING
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES Fresh evidence shows illegal sand mining, groundwater extraction goes on in the river floodplains despite court orders
NEWDELHI: The National Green Tribunal, in a series of orders over the past four years, has banned several activities including sand mining, dumping of debris, encroachment and open defecation in the Yamuna floodplains.
But fresh evidence gathered over the past six months by a private security agency, hired by the Delhi Development Authority to patrol the floodplains, has shown that little seems to have changed on the ground. Even though the land belongs to the DDA on paper, but it is the local mafias who seems to be controlling floodplains — at least after dark.
Hindustan Times in a two-part series checks how sand mining by gangs, dumping of debris to reclaim more land for encroachment, encroachment by slums and groundwater extraction from the Yamuna banks to supply hotels and hospitals are still rampant.
SAND MINING
As one walks along the Yamuna’s bank in Usmanpur Pushta-2, makeshift barricades made of bamboo sticks, could be spotted dividing the bank into several plots – each stretching not less than 50 – 100 metres.
“Each plot belongs to a different gang who gets the right from a local mafia to dig out sand. The mafia controls the entire stretch. It is a profitable business as one trolley of sand would sell for around ₹1,500,” said Naresh Kumar a security guard who has been patrolling these floodplains over the past few months.
Enter one such plot and you would stumble upon large and deep ditches all across from where sand has been dug out.
“During the day there is hardly any activity in these isolated stretches. But at night, one can see several trucks, trolleys and tractors waiting to transport the sand, while local youths dig it out. The activity starts after 9 pm. It is very risky to go there at night,” said a local who refused to be identified.
The NGT had banned sand mining from the Yamuna floodplains in November 2015, on a petition filed by an activist, Rahil Nagar. But the security agency has detected at least 85 cases of sand mining in the past six months between Wazirabad Bridge and Kalindi Kunj barrage — a stretch of 25 km.
The modus operandi is, however, different near Batla House area where local youths take the help of horses and mules trained to transport the sand in bags to a fixed location.
“They are very hard to intercept as they flee just leaving behind the animals. The locals refuse to talk about it,” said one of the guards, requesting anonymity.
These gangs are active even during the day just below the DND flyover. They dig out sand which is loaded on mules. The animal trudges towards Batla House where other gang members unload the sand and send the animal back to bring back more.
“The floodplain is a repository of water which helps to maintain the water flow even during lean season and helps to recharge groundwater. Rampant sand mining from the floodplains would destroy the hydrological balance of the river,” said CR Babu, an ecologist who was a member of the expert committee set up by the NGT to assess damage of floodplains after an Art of Living event in 2016.
GROUNDWATER EXTRACTION
Thousands of gallons of groundwater are being extracted everyday with the help of submersible pumps from the Yamuna floodplains — one of the few groundwater recharging zones left in Delhi — to supply to some the hotels in Delhi.
“As the floodplains become desolate at night, the gangs usually install the pumps and borewells in these places. It is very hard to locate them as they are often covered during the day,” said Ramesh Singh in-charge of one of the patrolling teams.
“Armed gang members guard the place to keep away intruders. We have been threatened a number of times,” said Ramesh Singh in-charge of one of the patrolling teams.
In January this year, the NGT had ordered the Delhi government to seal all unauthorised borewells in the national Capital within three months. But since September, at least six cases were detected by the patrolling guards from areas such as Sarai Kale Khan and Chilla Khadar where water was being extracted from the floodplains. A few were stopped but the gangs returned soon changing their location.
“Tankers supply this water to some of hotels and hospitals, preliminary enquiry has revealed. The water is usually used in the washrooms and gardens,” said Singh.
A senior Central Ground Water Board official said in Delhi the approval for extracting ground water is given only through a committee led by the district magistrate in charge of the district where the applicant wants the connection. The rest are illegal.
A report tabled in the Lok Sabha in March states that 56% of the tehsils in Delhi have over-exploited the ground water resource making the national Capital the third most ‘over exploited’ groundwater states in India after Rajasthan and Punjab.
It also states that water table in several parts of Delhi have gone down eight metres below the ground level.
“Unregulated, unscientific and excessive extraction of ground water from the floodplains may destroy the only potential and pristine aquifer of the city. Extraction of water may lead to leaching of polluted water from the river or it may pave the way for the underlying layer of saline water to come up and spoil the aquifer,” said Shashank Shekhar, assistant professor of geology at Delhi University.