Yamuna riverfront to get a facelift

A 'concrete-free' Yamuna Riverfront Development Project has been planned for the city's polluted lifeline. It will be inaugurated by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 2, involving the building of an akhada (traditional wrestling ring) and an international canoeing facility centre.

Also read: Yamuna polluted beyond control: Even its treated water can kill you

LOCATION

The project had gone into cold storage after rejection of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development model, which was considered for Yamuna and rejected subsequently in June 2014. The lieutenant governor (L-G) had sent a team to Ahmedabad to study the Sabarmati model. However, experts had said any activity involving cementing of the floodplains is not welcome. Delhi's water minister Kapil Mishra had then promised an alternative plan for Yamuna. "A five-kilometre-long stretch from upstream Wazirabad has been chosen in this regard," Mishra announced on Tuesday.

Also read: Lakhwar-Vuasi dam project to revive the Yamuna: Uma Bharti

He said the work will be completely ecological and involve the construction of temporary structures only. "An amount of Rs 200 crore has been set aside for the project by the Delhi government and the first phase will be launched by June next year," Mishra told reporters here, adding that DDA, which owns the land, has authorised the government to start work.

"CM Kejriwal will make the official announcement after the 'Yamuna aarti' at the Sonia Vihar ghat," he said. At last year's aarti, he had claimed to clean and revive the heavily-polluted river in five years. Mishra said the detailed project report of the Delhi government's 'Yamuna Turnaround Plan' was ready and awaiting financial consensus.

Also read: Sri Sri Ravishankar's AOL pays compensation for damaging Yamuna floodplains

NEW LOOK

The event will see the participation of around 10,000 people. The riverfront will have wetlands, facilities of rowing, canoeing, a modern akhada (traditional wrestling pit). "Concrete will not be used and the structures will be made of bamboo and wood," Mishra said.

Mishra said Geeta ghat was in the process of being given a complete new look. "A 'Nakshatra Vatika' (garden as per Vedic astrology) and a medicinal garden is being built there," he said. Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad, one of the Presidential Retreats, has a similarly structured garden. Mishra said the riverfront development will be in line with the recommendations of ecologist CR Babu and NGT guidelines. Babu had submitted a report to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in this regard in October 2013. The ambitious plan seeks to develop the entire riverfront stretch in Delhi by way of creating wetlands with a variety of plants to clean sewage flowing into the river among other methods.

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