Govt co-opts NGOs to solve water woes (Times Of India 12 January 2011)

NEW DELHI: For the first time since it launched a "war for water" campaign following a directive from the Supreme Court, the department of science and technology is all set to co-opt non-governmental organizations into it. During a two-day workshop from January 24, a six-member committee will select from 23 shortlisted NGOs working in locations across the country, for central grants. The government will disburse up to Rs 145 crore to those NGOs to create awareness about water issues, rainwater harvesting and augmentation of water storage in rural areas which receive either less than the optimum 40 litres per capita per day water or get water that is below the set standards of potable water. The 23 NGOs have been shortlisted from an initial 44 applications that were invited in April last year. "The NGOs will give presentations as to the kind of technology they are looking to use, how they will run it for the two years of the grant period and also how they propose to turn it into a revenue model, which can be carried on by locals without any outside intervention," said a senior scientist associated with the programme. The NGOs should have a minimum experience of five years of working in the region where they propose to implement the project, and should have also implemented projects worth at least Rs 25 lakh in the last three years.

Sheila counters Ramesh's statement (The Hindu 09 January 2011)

Countering Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's remarks, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said both the Commonwealth Games Village and Akshardham temple had got green clearance for their construction on the banks of the Yamuna here.
“Clearances were given”
“I do not know in which context Ramesh spoke. Both Akshardham and Games Village got clearance to the best of my knowledge. They were given clearances,” Ms. Dikshit told reporters when asked about Mr. Ramesh's remarks on Friday.
Mr. Ramesh had said the Games Village should not have been given environmental clearance while there was no application ever for permission to build the temple. He had, however, added that the structure (Akshardham) could not be demolished now.
Ms. Dikshit said the decision to give environment clearance to Akshardham temple was taken by the then NDA Government.
Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy refused to comment on the remarks made by Mr. Ramesh

Villagers join battle against Yamuna pollution (The Hindu- Jan. 10,2011)

AP Volunteers clean the banks of the river Yamuna, polluted by industry effluents, the white froth seen on the surface of the water, in New Delhi. People living in 73 villages in U.P.'s Mathura district have joined the campaign to clean up the polluted Yamuna. File photo

Animal carcasses are not to be dumped into the river, washermen should not use chemicals to wash dirty clothes, the river bank is not to be used as a toilet and no polythene bags — these are among the measures villagers in Rajpura, in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, have planned as part of their campaign to clean up the polluted Yamuna.

Hundreds of villagers from Rajpura, a few kilometres upstream of Vrindavan in Mathura district, on Sunday pledged support to the campaign to save the Yamuna river from pollution and make its water potable.

With people from 73 villages in the district joining, the campaign has become the biggest public initiative in the region against river pollution.

The man who leads the campaign is Mathura’s Chief Development Officer Ajay Shankar Pandey who, during his earlier stint in Ghaziabad, had changed the profile of the polluted Hindon river.

Talking to IANS, Mr. Pandey said: “We told the villagers not to wait for others for what they could on their own. It is about saving a dying river, a holy river at that. A series of meetings and interactions with the village leaders and activists helped us draw up a plan of action. We are now putting that into practice.”

“We are confident that once the villagers lead and show the way, the city people will not remain idle spectators but will get involved,” Mr. Pandey added.

A super body called the Yamuna Mitra Panchayat will oversee the operation river clean-up.

“A whole lot of agencies have been roped in, including the panchayti department at each block as well as at the district headquarters and the departments of village development, irrigation, horticulture and fisheries. They will coordinate with the Yamuna Mitra Panchayat to ensure the success of the mission,” a confident Mr. Pandey said.

Each village will have a committee with the pradhan as the chairman. The committee will have three members — two panchayat members and either the panchayat secretary or any one interested in water conservation.

Yamuna enters Mathura district near Chondrash village and passes through Banger, Raipur Banger, Tilak Garhi, Barka, Chonki Banger, Bhadaiya and Madaur. After Saraisal the river enters Agra district.

Despite being one of the most sacred rivers in India, the Yamuna in Mathura presents a picture of total neglect.

Court petitions have led to the construction of the Gokul Barrage in Mathura. However, it has not made any difference to Yamuna’s pollution. The river runs like a huge sewage canal transporting industrial effluents and municipal waste.

According to Mr. Pandey’s plan, the committee will ensure animal carcasses are not thrown into the river. Washermen will not be allowed to use chemicals to wash dirty clothes in the Yamuna. One pond in each village will be marked for washing clothes.

The committee will also stop people from constructing latrines or using river banks as toilets.

The panchayat will ban polythene bags and offenders will be punished.

“The villagers will also ensure that idols, toys painted with harmful dyes and puja materials are not immersed in the river. Separate bins will be provided to collect such material,” he said.

The villagers will also help identify the canals and drains discharging into the river, which will be diverted to other routes or would be fenced to fish out polythene and other non-degradable materials.

The plan further includes river ranching, which would be encouraged as it is one of the natural ways of river cleaning, according to the official.

“The movement will for the first time see each villager participating. This can also help in dealing with industrial pollution too. Within a year I assume the water quality would improve significantly,” Pandey expressed his optimism.

River Regulation Zone coming: Jairam (The Hindu 08 January 2011)

‘Akshardham, CWG Village on Yamuna bank shouldn't have got nod'
Dismisses allegations of double standards
“We have to protect our rapidly vanishing riverbeds”
NEW DELHI: Neither the Commonwealth Games Village nor the Akshardham Temple should have been allowed to be built on the banks of the Yamuna, according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. He proposes to issue a River Regulation Zone notification to protect riverbeds from such harmful constructions in the future.
“The manner in which the Yamuna riverbed has been devastated by constructions should be a wake-up call to all of us,” he said. “Akshardham was the first culprit, but after that we have had a series of constructions.”
He insisted that he would not have cleared the mega projects on the Yamuna's banks, but admitted that little action could be taken against them now.
“I don't think the Commonwealth Games village should have got an environmental clearance, I don't think Akshardham should have got an environmental clearance, but we cannot demolish them. We have to protect the remaining riverbed.”
A senior Ministry official pointed out that Akshardham never even applied for an environmental clearance, forcing Mr. Ramesh to correct himself.
It was also pointed out to him that the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, at present in the eye of a storm, is facing the threat of demolition because it had never applied for an environmental clearance from the Central government.
However, Mr. Ramesh dismissed allegations of double standards, and said he did not want “to get into the past… It has already happened. What is yet to happen, we can stop that.”
Both Akshardham, which got the Central government's nod during the NDA regime, and the Games Village, which was granted an environmental clearance by the first UPA government, have Supreme Court rulings in their favour.
“This is why we are working on the RRZ [River Regulation Zone] concept,” said Mr. Ramesh, noting that the idea to set up a regulation on the lines of the Coastal Regulation Zone came from civil society groups. “I hope we can come out with something in the next few weeks to protect our rapidly vanishing riverbeds,” he added.
New coastal norms
The Minister was speaking at the release of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2011, which comes into effect from January 7, replacing the earlier CRZ notification of 1991.
He said the Ministry was considering the demand, mostly from fishing communities, to turn the notification into an Act of Parliament, as The Hindu had reported last week. This could make it harder to amend the rules to provide exceptions to individual projects. “I hope we are not going to have 25 amendments to CRZ, 2011 in the next 20 years [as the 1991 notification had]. We need to get out of this syndrome of passing a law and then amending it.”
However, the fresh notification itself aims to bring about “a better balance” between ecological and economic concerns, said Mr. Ramesh, adding that some economic activities had to be located in coastal areas.
“India must get used to power plants being located in coastal areas. The availability of water, import of coal or uranium fuel… will necessitate power plants being located there,” he said, seeming to defend some controversial projects.
Action will continue on all identified cases of violation of CRZ, 1991, and the State coastal authorities have been asked to identify other violations of the older notification within the next four months and take action within eight months.

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.

CWG Village shouldn't have got green nod, says Jairam (Mall Today 08 January 2011)

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday expressed regret over the construction of the Commonwealth Games Village on the ecologically-sensitive Yamuna bank. He also added that the Akshardham Temple near the Village did not have environmental clearance.
File photo of Jairam Ramesh.
"The Games Village should not have been given clearance. It stands right on the riverbed," Ramesh said after launching the updated Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2011.
The multi-crore Village was accorded clearance in 2007 by the Prime Minister, who held the charge of the environment ministry then. The clearance was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The temple, inaugurated in 2005, had courted controversy earlier, with activists approaching the SC over its location.
The temple had not obtained clearance as it was built before 2004, when the ministry's permission was not mandatory.
"We can't demolish the structures," Ramesh admitted.
But he said the ministry was exploring the concept of a River Regulation Zone notification to prevent future destruction of the riverbed.
Environment groups dubbed Ramesh's statement as a "publicity gimmick". "It is nothing more than a publicity stunt," said Manoj Misra, convenor of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan. The group is campaigning for the protection of the riverbed in 'Gandhi giri' style by sending anticipatory thank you messages to senior government officials for removing constructions on the bank. "If the minister means what he says, let him order the demolition (of structures)," Misra said.
Earlier, while releasing the CRZ notification 2011, Ramesh had bluntly said the public must accept the reality of power plants, including nuclear projects, in coastal areas.
"We are yet to come up with a power plant that hangs in the air. Until we achieve that technology, projects have to be located in coastal or denuded areas," he said.
The CRZ 2011, an improvement on CRZ 1991, will not condone the violations made under the previous notification.

Millennium depot: Govt differs with Jairam Ramesh (Times of India 08 January 2011)

NEW DELHI: Even as the environment minister lamented the construction of Akshardham temple and the Commonwealth Games village on the Yamuna riverbed, the Delhi government doesn't seem to share his views. Amid much controversy, the government recently dispelled all doubts about the Millennium bus depot – a 'temporary' structure that was meant to facilitate DTC's operations during the two weeks of Commonwealth Games. Chief secretary Rakesh Mehta said if the city was expected to expand its public transport system, the bus depot would have an integral role in its plans and there was no way that it would be given up after Rs 60 crore had been spent on developing it. DMRC also came under the scanner when Delhi Urban Arts Commission said that the Metro agency had misled it when it had applied for clearances for its residential quarters in 2007. The 90 flats, coming up in two buildings, are located next to the Akshardham metro station. "At that point, DMRC and the consulting architect indicated that the land in question was operational area under the zonal plan of the master plan. That is completely false and they misled us. The land was riverbed area where such constructions are not allowed. DMRC should have applied for change of land use to DDA and then sought approval from the local body. They applied for change of land use only three years later and more importantly, conceptual approval was not given for a housing project which is clearly what the 90 flats being built comprise," said DUAC sources. The bus depot, used for parking 600 buses, was constructed on 60.58 acres in the 'O' zone of the master plan that does not permit any development projects. Environmentalists cried hoarse over the breach of the L-G's moratorium that prohibited construction on the riverbed but while it was being constructed, they were cajoled into believing that the structure would only be of a temporary nature and pulled down soon after the Games. While DTC accepted in an RTI response that the 61.59-acre land on the Yamuna river bed, which it is using as the Millennium Bus Depot, was meant to be vacated and given back to Indraprastha Power Generation Corporation Limited (IPGCL) as soon as the Commonwealth Games got over, Delhi government officials claimed that the land was not river bed and was earlier being used to dump flyash as it was part of a power plant.