Restoration Of The Yamuna Marred By Concrete

As the Yamuna river flows, it cleaves the Indian capital of Delhi into two halves. On the eastern side, the Asita East park project has become a haven for local flora and fauna, particularly birds. Visitors are greeted by signage showcasing the migratory and resident bird species that flock to the park.

Once a neglected wasteland along the Yamuna’s floodplains, Asita East has been revitalised into a lush green expanse courtesy of the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) flagship Yamuna Floodplains Restoration Project. The park is spread across 197 hectares and reportedly has more than 4,000 trees and 3.35 million riverine grasses planted to restore its natural ecology.

From neglected wasteland to biodiversity park

“This doesn’t feel like a typical park – it’s more like a wildlife sanctuary. Yesterday we spotted a nilgai [the largest type of antelope in Asia],” said 20-year-old visitor Nidhi.

After running a lap of 1,600 metres, Nidhi and 22-year-old Poonam pause to catch their breath. Both are preparing for paramilitary service entrance exams, and the expansive terrain of the park provides a perfect training ground for the physical element. However, their training often comes to a halt when rains flood the tracks – a reminder of the park’s vulnerability to extreme weather.

Recurring floods in particular have been a problem in Yamuna. In July and early August 2023, severe flooding of the river brought India’s capital to its knees. Just over a year later, it happened again.

Shortly before this year’s flooding, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a statutory body dealing with environmental issues in India, published a report looking into allegations made by a newspaper that the DDA had ignored NGT guidelines for construction on the Yamuna floodplains.

The guidelines, published in a landmark ruling in 2015, mandated sustainable development practices to preserve the floodplain’s ecology and restricted further construction that would act as a bottleneck to the river’s flow. This includes bridges, as their pillars, erected on floodplains, divert the flow of excess water that can no longer be absorbed.

The NGT status report found that the DDA had breached its guidelines at numerous sites along the restoration project. This included Asita East, where 300 metres of pathways have been paved with interlocking blocks.

“We advised against permanent footpaths since the river swells during rainfall, inevitably inundating the low-lying areas. Instead, we suggested soil tracks,” said Ashvani Gosain, a member of the NGT-appointed expert committee who provided expert assistance to the tribunal for the 2015 judgment.

The Yamuna floodplain restoration project

The history of Delhi is intimately connected with the River Yamuna, which provides the city with both water and transport; the floodplains along its 22-kilometre route are crucial for its health. Over the last decade, the Yamuna Floodplain Restoration Project has seen demolition drives against encroachments such as jhuggis (informal housing areas), cricket grounds and religious structures.

The NGT approved the beautification and landscaping of restoration parks as long as its guidelines were followed. But ironically, six of these sites were cited in its report as potentially narrowing the Yamuna’s flow. These very constructions have come under fire for contributing to the July 2023 flooding, during which the river water breached its embankment and flooded the Supreme Court, Rajghat (the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi), and the Red Fort.

“The DDA’s approach to restoration seems to prioritise short-term beautification by introducing non-native vegetation and constructing concrete structures, resulting in artificial desertification,” said Bhim Singh Rawat, associate coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People. “This could stem from a push for economic gains and tourism instead of genuine ecological restoration. What’s even more troubling is that they haven’t consulted any independent environmental experts or green groups, possibly to fast-track the process.”

Dialogue Earth contacted DDA officials multiple times about the allegations in this piece, but has yet to receive a response.

Bamboo oasis under scrutiny

Baansera, Delhi’s first bamboo-themed park situated in Sarai Kale Khan, a village along the Yamuna floodplains, is one of the six restoration parks highlighted by the NGT.

As you enter the park, sounds of river currents can be heard beneath the rhythmic slap of workers applying cement to plaster tiles.

Baansera, a part of the Kalindi Aviral zone in the southern part of the Yamuna floodplains, encompasses 100 hectares of floodplains featuring two recovered lakes. These are former rubbish dumping grounds that have now been filled with treated water, with an added musical fountain and a selfie-friendly crescent moon structure overlooking the riverfront.

“The main pathway isn’t even finished, yet they’ve already opened a ticket counter. It feels more like a business venture,” photography enthusiast Vaasu Dubey, 22, told Dialogue Earth.

Much to the dismay of Dubey and other visitors, the construction shows no sign of completion. According to a site caretaker, who asked to remain anonymous, there are plans for a convention centre and bar that will be built in collaboration with a private company. He mentioned the recent opening of Café Bamboo Oasis, which has been billed as “eco-friendly”, but sits on concrete pavers. The Yamuna flows barely fifty metres from this site, its waters excluded from its wider river basin.

While the café and new additions promise a scenic escape from the urban National Capital Region, encompassing New Delhi and its suburbs, environmentalists like Rawat argue they are altering the floodplains beyond repair. “Restoring floodplains as tourist spots is fine. Creating permanent structures for tourism is where the problem starts,” he said.

In its status report, the NGT also flagged a casting yard (a facility used for manufacturing and storing large concrete structures for infrastructure projects) near Baansera. It cited a 12-foot-wide concrete road encroaching on the area as further restricting the river’s natural flow.

“Such casting yards have occupied the floodplains since 2009, before the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, and remain in use even today,” Rawat told Dialogue Earth.

30,000 bamboo plants of 15 varieties were originally planned for the park, but its plantation drive has since faced setbacks, particularly after last year’s floods washed away many of the saplings. Furthermore, Rawat argues that bamboo, along with other ornamental flowers, are unsuited to marshy ecosystems and can disrupt the ecology of the Yamuna floodplains.

A senior scientist who has been working on the Yamuna ecosystem for decades also warned against planting bamboo and other shallow-rooted plants as they can be uprooted by minor flooding, and suggested there was no need to plant anything. “Since the floodplain terrain is characterised by marshes and catchment wetlands, they naturally support flood-tolerant grasses,” he said.

The scientist preferred not to be named as the organisation he works for is funded by the government, and he is wary of reprisals for public criticism.

Sur Ghat and its cycle of concretisation

Blaring horns, traffic jams and the occasional cow is observed at the bustling southern intersection of Wazirabad, a village in northern Delhi. Just a few hundred meters away lies the Sur Ghat complex, within which all the traffic chaos fades, replaced by bird chirps and water splashes. Ghats are common in India, and usually have a flight of steps leading down to the river. They serve multiple purposes, including bathing, prayer, attractions, and funeral rites where the ashes of the deceased are immersed into the water.

In April 2024, Sur Ghat was closed, with a concrete boundary wall built over the next four months to replace the makeshift former boundary. Dialogue Earth visited when the area was open again to the public. Young boys splashed in the pool on one side, while on the other, women clad in white sarees gathered sombrely to mourn the passing of a family member.

But the ghat is set to close again, Ranjish, the security guard on duty, told Dialogue Earth. “The entire tiled platform will be uprooted and replaced – a tender has already been issued,” he said.

The tiled platform he refers to is a red sandstone pathway leading to bathing areas, changing rooms, toilets, an administrative office, kiosks for selling materials to engage in puja, a type of Hindu worship ritual, and a generator room.

“Ghats are traditionally meant to be built along riverbanks, allowing natural access to the river’s water. However, Sur Ghat is essentially a swimming pool on the floodplains, where water is pumped in during the rainy season,” said Gosain, who is a former professor at IIT Delhi. At Sur Ghat, instead of access to the river, the bank has been paved with concrete and features an artificial pool filled with water supplied by the municipal corporation.

According to the recommendations by an expert committee for the NGT in 2015, Sur Ghat needs to be de-concretised in consultation with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, with 50% of the existing concrete to be replaced by permeable surfaces. However, it seems instead that more plans for heavy construction are in store.

(Published under Creative Commons from Dialogue Earth. Read the original article here)