Kejri govt to rejuvenate Delhi's waterbodies

The Delhi government will be identifying ten waterbodies in the national capital to be taken up for development in the first phase.

 A meeting to give a final shape to the decision will be held between Water Minister Kapil Mishra and senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Monday.

 The capital’s waterbodies, lakes, ponds, and stepwells are dying a slow death with problems like encroachments and sewage plaguing them.

The Delhi government had in June set up a high-level  committee to look into the matters related to waterbodies, under the chairmanship of Public and Works Department (PWD) Minister Satyendar Jain.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has also proposed taking over the waterbodies from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for their revival.

 “We have sent a list of ten such bodies to the government and on Monday will zero upon the idea of taking over these waterbodies,” said Keshav Chandra, DJB CEO.

 The CEO said that DJB’s main focus would be to revive them as soon as possible so that these could be benefited from the monsoon and rainwater could be harvested.

 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in June had ordered the Delhi government to revive waterbodies in Dwarka sub-city before the onset of monsoon after a plea alleged that
they were in a dilapidated condition.

 “In this list of ten, there are at least two or three from Dwarka. The Public Works Department (PWD) is already working in this connection in the area,” he said.

 According to Delhi government’s records, there are 971 identified waterbodies in the capital, but the figure could well be above 1,000 as some are non-traceable, according to officials. 

Out of the 971, only 250 are those which still have water and can come under the ‘clean’ category. Over 300 waterbodies are such which have completely dried up and 100 have been taken over by encroachments like buildings, parks and slums, leaving no scope of revival.

Moreover, around 150 water bodies are partially encroached which will be taken up for
revival. In around 100 waterbodies, mostly in villages, sewage flows unmonitored.