Proposal to turn drains into roads opposed (The Hindu 30 March 2012)

Members of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan write to Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways
Members of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, a civil society consortium working in the area of restoration of the Yamuna and its various tributaries, has written to Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Dr. C. P. Joshi stating that “they were alarmed by the fact that the Ministry had recently sanctioned proposals from the Delhi Government to turn a few of the city drains into roads''.
“A case in point is a sanction of Rs.4,523 lakh to construct a road over 52 cusec drain from Mandoli Road to Drain No. 1 near Jafarabad in Shahdara (North) Zone. It is also no secret that Delhi is today known for rampant flooding in its low lying areas resulting from poorly planned and laid roads many of which have cut the natural drainage system of the city. In such a scenario the storm water drains in the city manage to keep it safe from flooding during the monsoon season. Accordingly these drains play a life line role for the city and closing them would mean trouble for the Capital,'' said Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan convener Manoj Misra.
The group has suggested that the drains be secured by law against encroachment and waste dumping and then converted into green and blue spaces in the form of secure open waterways enclosed with greenery in their flood zones.
“Delhi is the first city on the Yamuna and it is a city with an undulating terrain as a result of which both West and East Delhi have many natural storm water drains. In countries all over the world, the natural storm water drains are treated with much care and their integrity maintained through laws and regulations. Unfortunately no such mechanism is in place in our country and it is left to the municipalities to deal with them. In many places, most unfortunately, these drains have been covered and turned into roads without realising that such an action is no less than an invitation to double disaster,'' noted the letter.
Noting that covering of these drain increases the risk of flooding and the other is that there remains a strong possibility of such roads subsiding in due course, Mr. Misra said: “Wherever these drains are they also carry sewage and waste water and covering them would turn these drains into a gas chamber (no matter how many gas outlets one may create) and increase the toxic concentration (in absence of adequate oxygenation of the water in the drain) of the water flowing therein.''
Members of the Abhiyaan also noted that in the short term such covering of drains into roads provide a cleaner and sanitised look and might improve some connectivity in the city. “But let us not forget that all this is a short term solution with long term ecological damage and grave dangers of avoidable flooding and structural collapse. We hope that due attention will be awarded to the concerns of the environmentalists,'' noted the letter.