Environmentalists want Jairam to “walk the talk” (The Hindu 08 January 2011)

Environmentalists and river conservation activists have hailed the Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's comments about the need for a River Regulation Zone notification, but they want the Minister to “walk the talk”.
Activists who have been campaigning to save the river and the floodplains in Delhi rued that the Government has been dragging its feet on the issue of a notifying a RRZ policy for years now. “What has happened cannot be undone, but the government should now act fast and protect what is left of the river and the floodplains. I submitted a report to the Ministry in 2003 about the RRZ policy, but all these years there has been no action,” said Prof. Brij Gopal, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor.
Pointing out that rivers like the Yamuna are dying and losing their floodplains to concretisation in the absence of legally binding policies, Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan said: “If the Minister feels so strongly about the flood plains of rivers, then what is preventing the Ministry from taking action against the ill located, illegal, unethical and unauthorised DTC depot and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's residential structures in the riverbed?”
Urging the Minister to take immediate steps to rid the floodplains of such “illegal constructions”, Mr. Misra said: “Even the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, a statutory body, has found these structures illegal and has directed the Delhi Development Authority to take action, but they continue to remain on the floodplains. What is the point in lamenting the existence of an Akshardham Temple or a Games Village when you have other structures still coming up, despite protests and pleas?”
Activists point out that a RRZ policy is the only way to prevent “misadventures” like the Akshardham Temple and the CW Games Village, DTC depot, the DMRC staff Quarters. “If what has been constructed cannot be demolished, then urgent steps need to be taken to save what is left,” said Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People. He also called for fundamental changes in the sphere of river governance.