Green hurdle for amusement park (31 July 2011)

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's proposed amusement park at Shastri Park Metro station is being opposed by the city's green lobby.
The Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, a consortium of NGOs, says that the 15 hectares of land where park is to be built is not meant for commercial use and that DMRC does not have the requisite approvals to go ahead with the project.
The first violation, said Manoj Misra, convener of YJA, was of the moratorium issued by the lieutenant-governor prohibiting construction on the river bed. A DMRC spokesperson said that this proposal to set up an amusement park was followed up with LG's office and permission for setting up the park was given on November 16, 2010. But sources in the LG's office said this could not be construed as the final permission.
The office made it clear that there could be no permanent structures in the park, no concretization and the project had to be eco-friendly. However, DMRC still has to apply to DDA with the final plans. There is no formal clearance for the project from the LG's office," said a source.
Misra told TOI that as per the 2021 Master Plan and zonal plan, DMRC did not have any land available for commercial activity. "The limited land with designated 'commercial' land use has already been converted into IT parks. In any case, the entire DMRC complex at Shastri Park lies within the active river plain of 1,150m. This is important in view of the Delhi high court's decision of 2005, where it had ordered for the demolition of any structure standing within 300m of the river," said Misra.
He added that DMRC also did not have any approval from either the Yamuna Standing Committee or the Delhi Urban Arts Commission for the final project.
A DMRC spokesperson denied the charges, saying approval of the Central Water Commission's Yamuna Standing Committee for setting up an amusement park was obtained through their 68th committee meeting held March 2005. "The land was handed over to us by DDA in November 1999. Since then, it has been lying vacant. The land has to be commissioned out temporarily for 15 years. We have all necessary clearances," said the spokesperson.
YJA pointed out that even the standing committee clearance came with the rider that the river bed level had to be restored to 204m since during the earlier construction by Delhi Metro, the level had been raised by dumping of debris. The restoration has not taken place.
"The land use of the specific area is not commercial as per the zonal plan and no commercial activity can be allowed here without a change in land use. If DMRC has no operational use for this land why can't it be returned to DDA and restored as floodplain," said Misra.