Over-stretching limited resources (Hindu 03 September 2012)

The Hindu One the colonies in Dabri which were regularized among the 917 unauthorized colonies in Delhi. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

In 2010, a major pipeline that carried water from the Wazirabad treatment plant in the city developed several breaches. Residents were left parched and the civic authorities had to deal with water-logged roads. The Delhi Jal Board that is responsible for the maintenance of this pipeline spent days looking for the origin of the leakage. The water utility could not locate the fault because “illegal constructions”, read houses, had come up on the pipeline itself. And because these illegal constructions could not be razed, the DJB was forced to change the alignment of this three-decade-old pipeline.

The Government-owned power utility, the Delhi Transco Limited, has been for years complaining about houses in unauthorised colonies having come up dangerously close to vital installations including high-voltage overhead lines.

Numerous instances of blackouts and even deaths by electrocution have not prevented houses from arching towards overhead transmission lines.

Water and power utilities are not the only ones complaining, land meant for forests and green areas has been turned into an unplanned, urban jungle. Haphazardly constructed buildings stand worryingly close to monuments and buildings of heritage value. And while heritage conservation experts worry about the message that is being sent out by the regularisation of the unauthorised buildings, the Government insists it will wage a legal battle, but ensure there are no demolitions.

There are approximately 47 colonies that stand on land that is owned by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and 15 in the regulated zone. “Unauthorised neighbourhoods in the vicinity of heritage sites such as the Qutub Minar or Tughlaqabad Fort will disfigure the landscape of the sites. However, implementation of heritage regulations has never been the priority for the agencies concerned,” said Ratish Nanda, conservation architect and expert on heritage preservation.

In the city where providing infrastructure is often preceded by occupation, there is a growing concern about the Government’s decision to regularise all that came up in contravention of the laws. “There is a perception among people that even if they squat on public land, after some years the Government will eventually legitimise it. Irrespective of who is in power, the dependence on vote bank politics has led to growing lawlessness,” complained noted environment lawyer M.C. Mehta.

Mr. Mehta recalled an instance when the Delhi Government informed the Supreme Court that they could not build any more sewage treatment plants, because there was “no land available”. “They don’t have land for essential installations like STPs, but there is land for thousands of illegal constructions, how bizarre is that,” he questioned.

The Government is eulogising its efforts to regularise 1,600 unauthorised colonies of which 917 have been made legit, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has assured that even those colonies that have come up on land owned by the forest department will be regularised.

“Our worry is that encroachers will be emboldened by the Government’s mood. They will allow colonies on land owned by forest and the ASI today, it will be the Zone ‘O’ (river bed/ river front) tomorrow. There is no scope for allowing illegal constructions anywhere, whether it is the rich in the Sainik Farms or the poor in other parts of the city. The regularisation order over-stretches our limited resources,” said Manoj Misra, convenor of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, a non-government organisation that has been fighting for the preservation of the Yamuna and its flood plains.

Officials of the DJB are tight-lipped about the strain that the regularisation order will put on the system, but they are quick to point out that the Government will have to push for more allocation of raw water if it wants equitable distribution. “As on date we have laid the pipeline network in 823 colonies, of which 735 receive water supply. In some colonies we supply water once every two days; in others the duration is longer. But if we have to supply water to our existing 18 million consumers and the 4 million that are in these regularised colonies then the Government must ensure that we get an additional 80 Million Gallons a Day with immediate effect from Haryana and in the future more water from Bhakra Beas and other sources,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

Power discoms have already been supplying electricity in these unauthorised colonies, but they face the challenge of keeping their installations safe. Pilferage is another issue that the companies have to deal with.

“Sometimes when we try to talk to people about the hazards of living near a power carrying line, they snap at us and tell us its their life that is in danger and they will deal with it,” said a discom official.

Has the Government failed the people, has it abdicated its duty to provide habitable housing for the poor, has it overlooked transgression of law by allowing the unregulated growth of farmhouses?

A.K. Jain, a former Delhi Development Authority official, said: “Planned development is an idealistic situation. We aspire for it, but have to realise that planned and unplanned development go side by side. While there is regularisation of these unplanned areas, we need to focus on the critical aspects as well. The Government must turn attention to in-field development, which means large properties or vacant spaces can be used for building group housing societies, where there will be proper infrastructure, roads, and sewers. The Master Plan also identifies that there should be 15 per cent housing developed through in-field development.”

Opinion in favour of regularisation is pivoted around human rights and allowing residents a chance to live with dignity. Attention is drawn to the unhygienic, unhealthy living conditions in these colonies, some of which are marked by mounds of garbage, broken roads, water-clogged streets and no civic amenities.

“I would not like to comment whether the unauthorised colonies and slums should have come up at the first place. The fact is that 50 per cent of Delhi is now living in unauthorised colonies and slums, and at this stage the most important issue and challenge is how to improve their habitation,” said Raj Rewal, chairperson of the Delhi Urban Art Commission.

The DUAC has offered to take up suo motu studies to improve the living conditions for unauthorised colonies.

All construction activity comes to a halt in Gurgaon (Hindu 02 September 2012)

District administration notice to builders to use only treated sewage water

All construction activity has been stalled in Gurgaon till the builders make arrangements to use recycled water from the Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) of Dhanwapur or Behrampur.

The district administration has sent notices to 81 builders in this regard asking them to stop construction immediately till they produce a confirmation from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Gurgaon, to the effect that they are no more extracting ground water and would use recycled water from an STP of HUDA or any other source approved by HUDA for construction purposes.

Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary (Town & Country Planning) S. S. Dhillon on Saturday visited the local Golf Course Extension Road and conducted random checks at some construction sites along with Deputy Commissioner P. C. Meena, HUDA Administrator Praveen Kumar and other senior officials. At almost all the places, the construction was found stopped.

Mr. Dhillon said that in compliance of the orders of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the builders who have obtained licence from the Town & Country Department have been directed to make arrangements for recycled treated sewage water for construction purposes. He said HUDA would keep a record of treated water taken by each builder from its STP and whether it was sufficient to meet its needs. He said HUDA and MCG would provide primary and secondary treated sewage water and the builder would have to finally treat it (tertiary treatment) at the construction site before using it for construction purposes.

According to Mr. Dhillon, even supply of water from tankers at construction sites was prohibited because the entire Gurgaon district has been notified by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA). He said now if any builder is found using underground water for construction purposes contempt of court proceedings will be initiated against him.

Mr. Meena said the district administration has constituted 25 teams for keeping vigil in their respective areas and to ensure that underground water is not used for construction purposes. Till August 20 this year, he added, as many as 634 illegal tube-wells were sealed and dismantled. After that, intensive checking was carried out which took the number of sealed and dismantled illegal borewells to 824. According to an estimate, about 150 million litres of sewage water is treated daily in Gurgaon. This includes 30 million litres a day (MLD) from Dhanwapur plant of MCG, 68 MLD from Dhanwapur STP of HUDA and 50 MLD from Behrampur STP of HUDA. The builders have now been left with no option but to make use of recycled water from these STPs at their construction sites.

New water project aims to lower school dropout rate (Hindu 02 September 2012)

Solar Power:Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurating a solar water purification station in New Delhi on Saturday. Education Minister Kiran Walia is seen at right.— Photo: PTI

Water is a fundamental human right and managing this most precious gift of nature is essential, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Saturday while inaugurating the first solar water purification plant at Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya in Surajmal Vihar in East Delhi.

The Chief Minister lauded the initiative stating that the water treatment plant set up by Social Awareness Newer Alternatives (SANA) will help produce over 5,000 litres of drinking water per day as per the World Health Organisation standards through use of solar powered panels and via a micro-ionising water purification processes.

Ms. Dikshit said by converting brackish, contaminated water into clean drinking water, the project will help over 750 school children from economically backward homes. Under the scheme every child will be allocated five litres of clean potable water daily for taking home so that his/ her family residing nearby also gains access to pure water.

Incentive

East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit said the initiative will bring down the dropout rate by providing incentive for continuous education. Mr. Dikshit said it will also alleviate the burden of disease in a community.

Greens oppose residential yoga facility on river bed (Hindu 02 September 2012)

New Delhi: Even as questions are still being raised about the legality of the location of the Akshardham temple and the Commonwealth Games Village on the Yamuna river bed, a new structure between these buildings is making the greens see red.
The yoga-cum-residential complex being built by the Akshardham trust is located on 25,497 sq m land but authorities have not applied for clearance to either the Delhi state environment impact assessment committee or the Delhi urban arts committee.
According to spokesman of the temple trust, Janak Dave, all necessary permissions have been obtained for the project. “This is a yoga centre with residential facilities for our volunteers. Whatever permissions were necessary have been obtained,” he said.

For any construction with a built up area of 20,000 sq m or more, an environment clearance is necessary. Sources in SEIAC confirmed that no such request had come to them. “This project — on grounds of its size and location on the river bed — would need a goahead from the committee. However, it has never been submitted to us and is a violation of the Environment Protection Act,” said a member.

DUAC also confirmed that their permission was necessary for the same reasons but nobody had approached them. “The project has never been submitted to us and hence permission from DUAC is out of the question,” said a source.

Manoj Misra, convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, brought the matter to the notice of the LG in 2010 but government officials had claimed that the project had been cleared by the agencies concerned. “Work on the project started around November 2010. The land on which the building is coming up was not part of the original Akshardham temple and this extra land was transferred to the trust after the temple was built. We filed an RTI with DDA in September last year but are yet to receive a reply from them,” said Misra.

He added that in 2000, DDA had sold 12 hectare land to Akshardham. Later, Akshardham procured additional land in front on lease from the UP irrigation department under a commitment that its land use would be ‘green’.

“However, much of that was converted to a parking lot. On the other hand, construction work is also going on in the area which has been earmarked as ‘parking’ under the zonal plan for zone ‘O’. When there is already such a huge parking lot available, we have asked DDA what work is now taking place. DDA is yet to respond to the query,” said Misra.

Kalindi Kunj bypass project revived (Hindu 02 September 2012)

NEW DELHI: The Kalindi Kunj bypass project, which is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Faridabad, has been revived and is being planned in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
After the project, which was initiated by the Delhi government in 2002, ran into several hurdles due to land acquisition issues with the Uttar Pradesh government, the public works department (PWD) is planning a realignment of the bypass to minimize the hindrances and will soon appoint the consultants for the new plan.
"The consultants have been chosen keeping in mind their experience in handling such projects and can suggest a plan where hindrance-free land is available. It will be a joint venture between two consultants who will submit a detailed project report in eight months. This report will include statutory clearances for land acquisition, a new alignment for the bypass, soil testing and a topographical survey as most of the bypass will run along the Yamuna," said a senior official connected with the project.
Construction will start only after getting the requisite clearances from the Delhi government, Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and UTTIPEC, the apex infrastructure body. As the 27km bypass — from Kalindi Colony near the Yamuna to Palwal in Haryana along the western banks of the river — will be close to the Jasola bird sanctuary, the project will also need environmental clearance. Land will also have to be acquired from the UP irrigation department as it has an office and a residential colony in the area, said PWD officials.
"The consultants will conduct a detailed feasibility study and work around the hurdles faced by the project. The government will then take a final call on the suggestions," said the official.
They will also consider a plan to build the road near the Yamuna bank on stilts. "The road will be elevated. The earlier plan had the road on the embankment, which invited objections," added the official. Around 30 boundary pillars have already been built near DND to mark the site of the bypass project and two kilometers of the land on the Yamuna embankment strengthened.
The bypass is supposed to create an alternative route for commuters travelling from Delhi to Faridabad apart from the Mathura Road, and would cut travel time. "It will decongest traffic on NH-2 between Kailgaon near Faridabad in Haryana and Delhi," said the official.
The government had earlier sanctioned nearly Rs 100 crore to construct the 14km stretch of the bypass that falls in Delhi. The remaining 13km in Haryana has already been constructed.
Construction on the 6.5km bypass from the Kalindi Kunj Colony Ring Road to Kalindi Kunj Road was awarded in March 2003 at a cost of Rs 63.41 crore. The project was to start on May 15, 2003, and to be completed by May 14, 2005. However, the UP government refused to part with its land.
Then In June 2006, the Delhi high court passed an order prohibiting road construction within 300 metres from the edge of the river. Later that year, the court modified the order, allowing a road to be built 120m away from the river. But the UP government refused to budge an inch on the bird sanctuary and sand mound near the Yamuna. In May 2007, PWD decided to stop the work after having spent Rs 52.50 crore on the project.