JOIN USThe Delhi government wants people to use the buses more, but has problem finding space to park them. A big sufferer in this is the Yamuna riverbed, where the Millennium Park bus depot was built for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in 2010.
The depot was constructed on the banks of the Yamuna with the main aim of maintaining the fleet of 600 buses to be used for transport of athletes, mediapersons and officials around the city. It was built as a temporary structure, and was supposed to be removed after the games.
But even after the CWG ended, the Delhi government and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) did not demolish it.
After several court hearings and contempt of court proceedings in the past four years, the Delhi High Court on October 20 finally ordered relocation of the depot. It rejected a plea by the DTC to approach the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to change the land use of the site from ‘Green/River’ (Zone O) to ‘Transportation’, so that the temporary construction can be made permanent under the Master Plan Delhi (MPD) 2021.
The depot occupies 60 acres of the already dead Yamuna riverbed. It had raised serious environmental concerns at the time of its construction. That was the reason why it was meant to be temporary.
The depot, built at a cost of Rs 60 crore, has since then become a proverbial thorn in the government’s side. In January 2014, during his previous term, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had himself ordered its relocation to rejuvenate the river. “It is a catchment area for water, which cannot be meddled with,” he had then said.
But Kejriwal reversed his stand in his second stint, citing “changed scenario”.
“In view of the changed scenario requiring DTC to augment its fleet by adding more buses, more space is needed. Existing space needs to be protected,” the government said in August this year, adding that it is not being provided additional space by the DDA for bus depots.
It had also pleaded with the court that the DTC be given another six months to approach the DDA to change the land use. However, the Land and Development Office (L&DO) of the Urban Development Ministry later said that this land belongs to them, following which the DDA stated in court that it is not possible to change the master plan.
This seemed to leave the DTC with no option but to move out.
The court in 2012 had given DTC six months to relocate the depot or get the master plan amended. With the DTC asking for extensions repeatedly and the depot still operating from the site, the petitioners had filed a contempt petition. The court has now ordered the depot’s relocation without giving the DTC an opportunity to apply for change of land use in the master plan.
The court in its order had said that not shifting the site till now was a “clear abuse of judicial process”. The contempt petition will come up for hearing in November.
According to environmentalist Anand Arya, whose petition in the High Court led to the recent order, the reason behind the government’s change in stand is the “politics of Arvind Kejriwal, who wants yet another confrontation with the Lt Governor. The relocation of the depot had become a political subject”.
He was referring to the ongoing tussle between the chief Minister and LG Najeeb Jung over various issues, including land, which is not a state subject.
Environmental concerns
Since its construction on the floodplains, activists and NGOs have been raising serious environmental concerns over the depot. According to the master plan, the riverbed had been earmarked in the master plan for recreational use, including a biodiversity park.
“The depot falls within the 10 km area of the Yamuna stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla, which has been declared as extremely polluted and any construction within this needs environmental clearance. The government did not take any such clearance under the environment impact assessment rules. It is in violation of the master plan which declares that as a green area which means no such construction can come up,” Arya says.
He added that the depot, which has a petrol pump, a servicing station, and two CNG stations, also pollutes the river channel with grease and chemicals which are discharged into the river. The engine oil from the buses is also going into the river.
The government had earlier tried to justify its decision of not moving the depot, which has a parking space of 1,000 buses, by claiming that it lacks parking space. By operating the depot, the government argued, it was promoting public transport, in turn controlling air pollution.
The court-ordered relocation has now posed a new challenge to its plan of finding parking space and increasing its fleet of buses.
“There is a shortage problem but what can we do if the High Court has ordered the relocation? We have begun the process of shifting the buses from the depot,” says DTC spokesperson R S Minhas.
However, Arya believes that the “no parking space” claim by the government is just an “excuse”.
“I had mentioned to the government before also that a 60 acre (Millennium depot) parcel doesn’t need to be shifted to another 60 acre space. It can be divided into two or three parcels. There are a number of depots spread across the city which have tremendous amount of space. The existing infrastructure is not optimally used. And why can’t the depots go multi-storey for parking?” he says.