Urban News

It has taken eight long years, but if all goes well, Delhi will have nearly 300 replenished water bodies by this monsoon. As per papers accessed by Newsline, reports filed by different agencies in the High Court say the water bodies have been deepened and re-dug.

From small lakes near Rajghat to the Baolis (step wells) within monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the water bodies are peppered all over the city. The CPWD has submitted that it has deepened four water bodies — including one each in Rajghat, Vijay Ghat and Shanti Van, while the ASI has done the same with the Raja ki Baoli in Mehrauli, Agrasen ki Baoli near Connaught Place and Nizamuddin ki Baoli.

Newsline found that years of silt at the bottom of Agrasen ki Baoli has been removed, even as a senior ASI officer said further dredging will be done at the heritage structure. At a water body behind Radisson Hotel in Mahipalpur, recharge pits and channels have been created at the bottom. At the water bodies in North Delhi’s Burari, the challenge is to keep sewage out. The Public Works Department (PWD) has been held responsible for cleaning up the Neela Hauz lake on Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, which is now full of construction material for a bridge being built for the Commonwealth Games. 

In all, the Delhi government has restored 178 water bodies, the ASI has worked on 13, DDA on 58, the CPWD on four and PWD on one.

“Many factors have resulted in old Baolis drying up. In Agrasen ki Baoli, nearby housing societies have adversely affected the ground watertable. We hope things will be different this monsoon and the Baoli will fill up,” said K K Muhammad, Delhi’s Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI.

Interestingly, most of these were never recognised as water bodies by the government, leading to indiscriminate development around them. In fact, the state appraisal committee which awards environment clearance for projects stalled a Delhi Development Authority (DDA) construction in Dhirpur which fell in the Yamuna flood plain. Construction will be permitted on the condition that the water body there is restored, but the government has been dragging its feet on the issue since 2003.

Following a Public Interest Litigation by environment activist Vinod Jain, the High Court had set up a committee to monitor restoration of water bodies in Delhi with an inspection committee under the Chief Secretary. Of 629 water bodies identified, the High Court was told that 158 could not be revived. Of these, as many as 56 were encroached while 20 are full of sewage.

WATERY SURPRISE

* Some of the biggest water bodies in Delhi are in unexpected areas

* Vijay Ghat has a 24,000 sq m water body

* Bhudanpur Majia in Northwest Delhi has one of 36,000 sq m 

* Lambi Khurd in Burari has a 36,604 sq m water body 80,000 sqm

Hauz Khas Lake, Delhi’s