Nine years after green panel’s directions, Yamuna oodplain yet to be demarcated
The process of physical demarcation of the Yamuna’s oodplain – a basic step to help identify and protect the sensitive ecosystem from encroachment – is still incomplete despite court orders.
While the Delhi government had claimed in submissions to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that “100%” physical demarcation of a major stretch of the Yamuna’s oodplain in the city has been done, visits to the sites in question and interviews with ocials by The Hindu have conrmed that major gaps persist.
Moreover, nine years after the NGT asked authorities to identify encroachments in the oodplain, this process, too, has not been done, and was not initiated even after the devastating July 2023 oods that saw the Yamuna rise to unprecedented levels. In fact, illegal permanent constructions on the oodplain have only grown since the NGT’s directions in a landmark judgment in 2015, according to latest satellite images. “Demarcation of a oodplain is not rocket science. If it is not being done despite court orders, it is because of the dishonest intentions of bureaucrats and the government’s Executive wing,” said Shashi Shekhar, former Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He added that there was a “strong land maa” that was “grabbing” the oodplain. “This cannot happen without the connivance of ocials and politicians.”
Rising encroachment
Encroachment into the oodplain intensied in the 1990s, with several illegal colonies mushrooming on the site. Over the years, multiple developmental projects, such as the Commonwealth Games Village, the Yamuna Bank Metro Station, and the Delhi Secretariat, were also constructed on the oodplain.
After the 2015 judgment in a case led by ex-IFS ofcer Manoj Mishra, the NGT formed the ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna (From Dirty to Clean Yamuna) Revitalisation Plan, 2017’, with the intent to restore the river’s oodplain to its natural state by March 31, 2017.
The NGT’s judgment, warning of “grave environmental disasters”, had directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) – a civic body administered by the Centre – to physically demarcate the entire oodplain, and prohibited any construction in the demarcated area. But the DDA missed the deadline.
‘Demarcation done’ However, from April 2021, the Delhi government, based on the submissions made to it by the DDA, has been claiming in di£erent reports to the Centre and the NGT that physical demarcation of the oodplain has been completed from Wazirabad to Jaitpur.
“100% work for demarcation of oodplain has been completed. 591 bollards marked with GPS coordinates, 375 ag posts, and 27 signboards for the entire stretch from Wazirabad barrage to Jaitpur have been installed,” stated a report submitted by the Delhi government to the NGT on December 12, 2023.
But when The Hindu visited di£erent parts of the oodplain from Wazirabad to Jaitpur, the bollards could not be found in many areas.
“The demarcation has been done from Wazirabad to Okhla, but has not been completed from Okhla to Jaitpur. Most of the oodplain in Jaitpur does not belong to the DDA, so to complete the process, we will have to do a joint exercise with the Delhi government,” a DDA ocer said.
At Batla House, too, the demarcation could not be found except for one bollard. DDA-appointed guards at the site said they had not seen any more bollards. “The physical demarcation has not been completed here due to pending court cases,” another DDA ocial said.
Potential issues remain unaddressed even in the stretches which are demarcated, multiple ocial sources told The Hindu.
The minutes of a meeting of the Principal Committee – a panel appointed by the NGT to monitor the implementation of its 2015 judgment – on January 14, 2022 show that issues were raised about the demarcation already done by the DDA. “It was pointed out to the DDA that the bollards xed by them at some areas excluded a large part of the oodplain and a meeting was suggested to discuss that. But the meeting never happened,” said a Central government ocial. The information was conrmed by a second source.
The NGT’s direction to identify encroachments and suggest recommendations for demolition, too, was not done. “The Principal Committee was supposed to ensure the DDA did this, but it never happened,” the ocial said.
Delhi oods
After the 2023 oods, the NGT took suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report and formed another committee headed by the Chief Secretary in October last year. The green panel’s directions to the new committee echoed almost exactly what it had told the Principal Committee eight years prior – to physically demarcate the oodplain and suggest measures to remove encroachments.
The new committee was set a deadline of three months, but the deadline was missed. In January this year, the committee asked for three more months to comply with the NGT’s directions.
“It was proving to be a dicult task to carry out these directions, as the DDA and Revenue Department did not have proper maps of the area in the required format,” a Delhi government ocial said.
On March 21, the NGT directed the Delhi government to demarcate the oodplain keeping in mind the risk of oods that occur once every hundred years. Earlier, demarcation was being done based on a 25year ood frequency. The new direction will result in a much larger area being termed as oodplain.
“We will have to make the maps again, and then demarcate the oodplain,” the ocial said. “It would take much more time.”
More construction
Even as the new committee struggles to identify and remove encroachments in the oodplain, several new constructions could be seen in Jaitpur, New Usmanpur and Garhi Mandu. At Jaitpur, there were hundreds of illegal constructions which stretched even beyond the Delhi border.
A shopkeeper at Jaitpur said the change had happened right before his eyes. “Twenty years ago, there were only ve or ten houses on the oodplain. But over the years, a whole colony has developed there. Construction can happen if you pay the right people,” he said, his voice trailing o£.