Demolish Yamuna bus depot: Urban arts panel (Hindustan Times 20 July 2012)

Environmentalists campaigning against a permanent Delhi Transport Corporation millennium bus depot on the banks of the Yamuna got a shot in the arm with the Delhi Urban Arts Commission also saying the construction had no environmental clearance and needed to be demolished.

“Zonal ‘O’ does not permit any such facility in the area. Since it was built as a temporary facility for  CWG (the Commonwealth Games), the Yamuna bed should be restored to its original form. Existing structures and hard-top road surfaces should be demolished immediately. All ongoing construction and use must be stopped,” said a DUAC affidavit filed in the court hearing a public interest litigation on the issue.

‘O’ does not permit any such facility in the area. Since it was built as a temporary facility for  CWG (the Commonwealth Games), the Yamuna bed should be restored to its original form. Existing structures and hard-top road surfaces should be demolished immediately. All ongoing construction and use must be stopped,” said a DUAC affidavit filed in the court hearing a public interest litigation on the issue.

Environmentalists Manoj Mishra and Vinod Jain in their PIL demanded demolition of the depot on the grounds that the construction was against the master plan and zonal plan of the river. “Such concretisation (sic) will badly affect the water recharge capacity of the area and will prove harmful for the river,” they contended.
Questioning the move to make the depot permanent by changing the land use in the master plan from “recreational” to “transport”, the court had slammed the government saying “you cannot make changes in the master plan after carrying out an illegal construction”.