Oodplain yet to be demarcated
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 Union 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 100 years. Earlier, demarcation was being done based on a 25-year
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£.
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