Water campaigners� plea to Indian President

To
His Excellency,
Mr., A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ji,
Hon�ble President of India

Subject: To ban constructions on river Yamuna in Delhi.

Dear Sir,

It is painful to inform you that river Yamuna, the most vital water resource of the city and the country is continually being encroached upon and destroyed by government of this city in the name of development.

The biggest threat to the river bed is coming from the construction of Common wealth games village. The river bed is vital for survival of the river as well as the supply of water to the city.

The composition of river bed is mainly sand and silt upto a depth of 30 metres, which is highly porous and hence a suitable mechanism for recharge of flood water. Doing a simple experiment by taking the riverbed sand in a glass and pouring water in it, we find that it can absorb upto 70% of its own volume in the same glass.

Again doing some calculations we arrive that the capacity of this 94 sq kms of riverbed to hold water is equal to at least � th of Delhi�s total annual water requirement. Even today, the water recharged by the riverbed supplies upto 15% to 20% of the city�s total water supply of the city. The fact that it is a major water recharge zone is also attested by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) in its various reports.

Further, Delhi falls in seismic Zone IV and prone to earthquake. The constructions of multi storeyed buildings on riverbed increases the risk to life and property.

We request that there are other sites that can be chosen for the Common Wealth Games such as Dwarka, which is also closer to IGI Airport. Or another suitable site is Lodhi Road, close to Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium. The old govt. flats in this area are old and dilapidated and need to be demolished. It is a fit area for The Games village site as it also close to JLNehru Stadium and we would not need to build a tunnel road which is raising a lot of controversy.

We request you to ban the constructions on Mother River Yamuna and shift the project to other better place so as to save the river from a great danger.

With the best Regards

Sant Baba Balbir Singh (Sinchewala)
President, Punjab Jalbradari

Rajendra Singh
President, Jal Biradari
Gandhi Darshan, Rajghat,
New Delhi-110002

User comments

"Water campaigners� plea to Indian President"

Author: Dhirendra Krishna

Time: 05.09.2007 06:06

Comment: Friends,

I suggest that Water Campaigners should make extensive use of Right To Information Act. All public documents that led to the current policy decisions can be obtained under the RTI Act. If Government has taken decisions based on wrong factual premises, that would be revealed from these public records.

RTI Act empowers the citizens to question the wrong decisions, thereby demanding better services from public administration, in a democratic manner

Dhirendra Krishna IA&AS (Retired)
yahoo group rti4ngo