‘Effective steps not taken to demarcate Yamuna floodplain’

New Delhi: National Green Tribunal has observed that effective steps have not yet been taken to demarcate Yamuna's floodplain zone in accordance with the provisions of its 2016 order. The tribunal has asked Delhi govt and DDA to file a report with a timeline for the demarcation of the floodplains.
Last year, NGT took suo motu cognizance of a TOI report titled “Why flooding has forced DDA’s master plan rethink”.The original application raised the issue of the demarcation of the floodplain zone of the Yamuna within Delhi. A stretch of 22 km is in the urban area from Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage, and the full stretch of 56 km is from Palla to Jaitpur.
The tribunal observed that a status report on behalf of Delhi govt by the special secretary of the environment department stated that an exercise was undertaken to define the floodplains of the Yamuna in the stretch under consideration, taking into account the highest flood level to be once in 25 years.
However, it also noted that in terms of clause 3 (l) of the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection, and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, the floodplain of the river Ganga or its tributaries is required to be defined corresponding to its greatest flow or to a flood frequency of once in 100 years.
“Neelima Soni, director, DDA, present in person, has informed that payment for the work of defining the floodplain has not been made to the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, till now, and work has not been started,” observed NGT.
It added, “From Delhi's reply, it cannot be ascertained that any effective step has been taken till now.”
Granting eight weeks’ time to Delhi govt and DDA, NGT said the fresh reports should disclose the steps taken for the demarcation of the floodplain zone in terms of clause 3 (l) of the 2016 order.
“They are directed to disclose the timeline on the affidavit of the competent authority for completing the work of demarcation of the floodplain zone of the Yamuna, as well as the modalities which will be adopted for the same,” said a bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava.