UP govt to change course of Hindon for freight corridor
NOIDA: The Uttar Pradesh irrigation department’s plan to change the course of the Hindon river, near Safipur village, for over 800 metres in Noida and Greater Noida has got environmentalists worried.
The course of the river is being changed to make way for a dedicated railway freight corridor project.
“The UP irrigation department should have avoided changing the natural course of the river. Noida and Greater Noida, two industrial towns near Delhi, are turning into concrete jungles due to the property boom. Changing the river flow can result in floods,” said Vikrant Tongad, an environmentalist.
Officials, however, say the project is essential to strengthen infrastructure in the region. “Hindon makes a loop between Noida and Greater Noida near Safipur village, where a bridge needs to be built for the freight corridor project. We are only straightening the loop. If we do not do it then we either have to build more bridges or increase the length of the bridge,” said RS Yadav, executive engineer of the UP irrigation department.
Environmentalists said the changing of a river’s flow can lead to a Latur-like situation. Latur, a city in Maharashtra, is grappling with a severe water crisis.
Akash Vashishth, an environmentalist, said: “Shifting of the mainstream of a river is violation of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974. Also it is a violation of Biological Diversity Act 2002 because changing alignment will permanently damage the biodiversity of the area near the river. Mindlessly changing the course of a river in the name of industrial project will lead to water crisis like Latur.”
Resident, meanwhile, are threatening to move the National Green Tribunal. “We will file a petition in NGT. Indian Railways should have built a bridge without shifting the river,” said Kapil Singh, a resident of Safipur village. Once the flow of the river is changed, the Indian Railways will begin work on the bridge across Hindon in June.
The railways has paid `5.5 crore to the UP irrigation department for the project. The railways is laying a 140-km rail track from Greater Noida’s Bodaki to Rewari in Haryana. The stretch is part of the 1,400-km rail route being laid from Greater Noida to Mumbai port for the dedicated freight corridor project, funded by Japan.
“We have obtained the requisite permissions from all environmental agencies to begin work. We will start work in June. We aim to complete it in the next two years,” said Hari Mohan Gupta, chief project manager (CPM), Indian Railways.