Day after AoL fest, Armymen busy dismantling bridge

The temporary structure sprawled over 100 acres along Yamuna floodplain wore a deserted look a day after the three-day Art Of Living cultural gala. The very sight of it was enough to exhaust those trusted with the task of dismantling the massive structure.

On Monday, Armymen were busy removing the pontoon bridges they laid just a few days ago over the now reeking Yamuna. “It will take four days to remove them,” a soldier said, pointing out that the structures are easy to put up but difficult to break.

For days, the government had come under fire from various quarters for deploying the army for what was essentially a private event. Abdul Rehman, employed by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art Of Living Foundation, said only the Army is allowed to touch the bridges.

“We are here to remove only the scaffolding and other structures,” he said, adding that it would be more than a week before the make-shift venue is dismantled completely.  The three-day event at the ecologically fragile Yamuna floodplains was mired in controversy over violation of green norms, after which President Pranab Mukherjee pulled out of the closing ceremony.

The place appeared massively littered with wrappers and paper strips lying all around, especially near the temporary stage.  An employee of BGV Company, outsourced to clean up the place, said  the company drafted in 50 people for the task.

But only a handful of the company employees were seen picking the waste at a snail pace on Monday. Asked about the danger of garbage falling into Yamuna’s streams, the employee shrugged his shoulders saying: “Lot of garbage goes into the river any way.”