Will Yamuna tract gain market value?
Real estate
By Vasu

‘COLOURED canopies with wicker chairs positioned beneath, rolling green banks of a river dotted with slow moving ferries.’ While this description might hold true for most of the European river waterfronts where, after a phase of intense pollution, they have cleaned up their act and made waterfront property a prime commercial /recreational locale, in our country they are a different proposition altogether.

Take the example of the Yamuna. The holy river which once flowed adjacent to the ramparts of the Red Fort is now close to being designated a sewer or a nullah. Garbage, plastic waste, effluent from factories, solid waste, ashes and remains from funeral pyres are all dumped in the river with the belief that the water will carry it all away. The main culprits, according to development authorities, are the slums and jhuggi-jhompris that have come up on the banks. The greenery has all but disappeared along with the water which is reduced to a trickle for a major part of the year. Also, the Delhi stretch of the river has a near absence of waterlife as revealed by the biomap prepared by Dutch experts for the Central Pollution Control Board.

In spite of these problems, the Yamuna tract remains an attractive real estate development option, says Narendra, who works in the congested ITO area. Proximity to the central parts of Delhi is likely to make the 60-km-long stretch adjoining the Yamuna a prime commercial property one day.

So what do the authorities propose to do? The DDA along with the other development agencies like the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC), National Capital Region Planning Board (NCR-PB) and the National Environment Research Institute (NERI) have been debating the course of action. But before any consensus could emerge, the elections put the brakes on to finding a solution. A solution which anyway threatens to take the form of a controversy.

This is because the various development agencies have plans for the Yamuna which could not be more at cross-purposes. While the DDA is advocating a change in the usage---- from a ‘agricultural and water body’ to a‘commercial and industrial one’, the NCR-PB dreams of a deer park, a verdant botanical garden and play grounds. Though the DDA also proposes the rejuvenation of a stretch of the river by carrying on activities which do not harm the ecology and environment of the region, their main agenda in the past has been the channelisation of the river. The other plans include the development of commercial centres, hospitals, museums, universities and polo grounds. About 10,000 acres on the banks of the river will ultimately be targeted for development by the DDA. The reason cited is that if the tract is left undeveloped, encroachments will wipe out the potential of the entire area. Already a flyash brick-kiln has been set up there. Though this was done to help control the clouds of flyash which enveloped the area during the summer months, sceptics are not convinced and see this as an excuse to get prime land in the heart of the city. Indeed this land is certainly going to be considered ‘prime’in case it is developed sensibly and is allowed to have a green cover which has been missing for long in this part of the city, says Arvind, a property dealer in West Delhi. So will the dream idea of developing the Yamuna waterfront ever materialise?

"The only way it can be developed is through an economically and environmentally sustainable option", says Vijay Risbud, Commissioner (Planning), DDA. The ecological and environmental character has to be preserved while incorporating elements of river development, he says. At present, the idea of channelising the river bed has been dropped as this option has been discarded the world over. Tampering with the river channels is unsafe and often has unpredictable consequences for the ecology of the region. Now, the plans include water harvesting, developing large recreational areas in tandem with urban development work. Risbud adds that an assessment study(of the impact on environment) has been commissioned by the NERI and the report is expected within three months. It is obvious that ‘operation clean-up Yamuna’, which is going to be a Herculean task considering the extent of pollution, has to be undertaken before one can go beyond the draft stage for any waterfront development, he says. Financial estimates too are not yet in place. However, he feels, the area has tremendous potential.

In Calcutta, too, the tired and jaded Ganga is being given a fresh look once again and the government there has roped in British experts and corporate sponsors to help change the visage of the riverine zone. Yet similar problems persist there. Commercial development, though lucrative, will ultimately have to be in tandem with the ecological development of the river waterfront. After all, one can’t sell property that has the attraction of a river view and the only view one gets is that of a dirty steel grey trickle of filth flowing by.