Lucknow water bodies swallowed by realtors
With rapid urbanization changing the skyline of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh has lost 46% of its water bodies. Most of those remaining are polluted with waste and sewage.
According to a survey conducted by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, there were a total of 964 ponds in the city in 1952. The number declined to 494 in 2006. Land records of the municipal corporation state the city has 964 tanks and ponds, a majority of which are unidentifiable due to reclamation.
“Each time we try to demolish the encroachments, we face tremendous political pressure and the matter is laid to rest,” said an official of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), who did not wish to be identified for fear of retribution from the ‘land mafia.’
In 2006, the Supreme Court had said that the protection of natural lakes and ponds honours the most basic fundamental right - the right to life - which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
But Lucknow’s official records reveal a grim picture. Ponds and pools, which act as a sponge and thermo-regulators, help in the accumulation of rainwater and enhance the groundwater level in the area. Large water bodies in Lucknow’s core urban area have become largely extinct. This has made it vulnerable to severe flooding. The state capital reported four major flood events in the past decade.
The situation of the Gomti River is at its worst. It is a groundwater-fed river and is replenished by its various tributaries. According to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the flow of the Gomti has reduced by 35 to 40% over the years. At some points, one can walk across the river as water is only waist deep. The river is at its filthiest along the 13-km stretch in Lucknow and has been declared the most polluted river stretch in the country by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Experts say that the situation is getting worse daily, with about 300 water bodies around Lucknow currently undergoing plotting for building construction. The Yogi Adityanath government has provided only lip service to the issue and no specific action has been taken to save water bodies from land- grabbers.