To rob Yamuna of sand, its course changed (Times of India- 18 December 2009)

Neha Lalchandani, TNN

Yamuna Pollution is not the only problem plaguing the Yamuna. Upstream of Wazirabad, on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border — where till now the river had somehow managed to retain its free-flowing character before literally turning into a drain in the city — the sand mining mafia is clandestinely working to change the course of the river.

The river is silently being robbed off its sand right under the nose of the administration and police. In the Palla area, just before the river is channelled into the Wazirabad canal, a temporary bank has been created in the middle of the Yamuna to trap sand, effectively shifting its flow more towards the Delhi border and creating a small sand island. A couple of days after the police arrested four people for illegal sand mining in the area, TOI visited the spot only to find that there had been no change in the situation.

Two large cranes lifted sand from the river and loaded it in trucks that later drove off towards UP, all in the presence of cops. Police personnel pleaded helplessness saying that the men were operating from the UP side of the river.

‘‘We have been complaining to the flood control department about this for a while because we are not authorised to take action if the offence is carried out in the other state. The miners bring in huge machinery and carry away several truckloads of sand each day. At any point when they see the police approaching, they turn their cranes towards the UP side. Technically, the river comes under Delhi but again the police is not authorised to take action unless the agency concerned files a complaint with us,’’ said sources.

Each day, hundreds of truckloads of sand is being carried out by the miners, who police say are residents of nearby villages. Each truckload is sold for about Rs 800 on the outskirts of Delhi, basically for construction purposes.

Experts say that removing small amounts of sand from the river bed manually is not a problem since the flowing water keeps replenishing the sand. However, for a river like the Yamuna, which hardly has a water flow throughout the year, this can cause serious problems. ‘‘Usage of machinery is causing a change in the natural topography. Deep digging and drilling leads to formation of ponds and when the river floods at any point of time, there is a danger of it changing its course. This can prove to be catastrophic for the city infrastructure as well,’’ said Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan.

Villagers farming in the area are equally affected by the mining since the heavy machinery that is used for digging ruins their fields. Some claim that their land has also been appropriated for use during mining. ‘‘Many of these men come in from the Delhi side,’’ they said, contrary to the police version. ‘‘We have caught some of them but then they damaged our fields and crops and we had to let them off,’’ said Pratap Chand, a farmer.

SDM of the area, Ashish Mohan, told TOI that his department would be taking strict action against the miners, even if that meant taking a boat across to the Delhi border and apprehending them there. ‘‘I have also written to the area DCP on Tuesday, asking him to appoint the Alipur SHO as the nodal officer for taking action in other such cases in future,’’ he said.

neha.lalchandani@timesgroup.com