New Delhi:
A day after a two-judge bench of Delhi High Court pulled up Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for going ahead with construction of the Commonwealth Games 2010 Village on the Yamuna riverbed despite several studies underlining the danger, DDA officials said they were confident that construction won't be stopped, specially since they were close to the 2010 deadline and since no alternate site had been considered.
Environmentalists and concerned citizens are not happy over the turn of events. "It comes too late, and by the time the committee submits its report, most of the work would have been completed," said AGK Menon, convenor, INTACH.
While the court has pulled up all the agencies concerned, experts say the case should have been heard much earlier. "At least, it has been officially acknowledged that the ministry and NEERI did a U-turn on their earlier reports and that DDA has used fraudulent means in obtaining whatever permissions it did. But at this point, we really don't think much can happen," said Manoj Misra, convenor, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan.
However, as Ravi Agarwal, director, Toxics Link, pointed out, the order has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the commercial aspect of the entire project. What are now builder flats were initially supposed to be university accommodation for students. "The court has told the builders to construct at their own peril till the committee completes its study... I feel the order marks a huge shift from where the issue started. At least there is a recognition of the problems," he said.
The riverbed was recently classified as O zone, the objective of which is to augment water supply, contain pollution and have eco-friendly "green" development. Six months earlier, several ongoing projects were put on hold by an LG's order. The only construction permitted had been the Games Village and a DMRC depot. "Any activity, construction or so-called greening should not become an excuse for paving way for gardens, boating areas etc. The river needs to be left alone. Zero development should become the thumb rule," said an environmentalist.
DDA's logic for construction has been the nearby Akshardham Temple and the bund that had been created to safeguard the temple against any rise in the level of the Yamuna. "We have ensured that there will be no danger of flooding at the site while keeping in mind that the river is not constricted," said officials. Sources claimed that all possible permissions had also been obtained and there was no question of the project being "illegal".
"Both NEERI and ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) went back on their original reports. How does one account for that? The new committee that has been set up makes no sense in the larger picture as several studies have already been conducted, all of which initially pointed out that no construction should take place on the riverbed. If this committee finds that to be true, will they stop construction? If the committee doesn't see anything wrong, then their credentials will be under doubt," said an environmentalist.
| The new Deadline 2010 |
Nov 13, 2003
|
Indian Olympic Association wins bid to organize Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 |
| Sep, 2006 |
DDA gets report of environment impact assessment (EIA) on the site by EQMS Pvt Ltd |
| Oct 5, 2006 |
DDA approaches MoEF for environment clearance (EC), three years after the bid was won |
| Nov 8, 2006 |
MoEF's expert committee suggests looking for an alternate site |
| Dec 1, 2006 |
Committee tells DDA that structures should not be of permanent nature |
| Dec 14, 2006 |
MoEF issues an EC for the project |
| Jan 1, 2007 |
MoEF amends order. Tells DDA it can go ahead with planning construction of "permanent or temporary structure'' subject to identification of mitigation measures for upstream flooding |
| Mar 29, 2007 |
Order amended again. MoEF says that DDA can go ahead with planning of construction of "permanent or temporary structure'' subject to identification of mitigation measures for upstream flooding by Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune |
| April 2, 2007 |
Order amended again. DDA can go ahead with construction. The word ‘‘planning'' removed from the order |
Dr RK Pachauri, who is to head the committee, refused to comment on the issue. His office said he had not received any such information from the court till Tuesday.
DDA sources said that their concern was with the permissions, not how they were given. "If the agencies did a U-turn, they should be questioned. We have all the permissions required," said a source.
About five years earlier, the Central Ground Water Board had declared that no extraction of groundwater was permitted in the Yamuna riverbed, which meant that no largescale construction could take place there. Despite this, several big projects, including the Games Village came up.
DDA says the planned Commonwealth Games Village will not affect the area as the bund built for Akshardham Temple will prevent flooding.
