[ad_1]
The Delhi government’s ‘City of Lakes’ project is in jeopardy after it has had to “return” to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) water bodies that it was meant to work on and rejuvenate.
Officials in the Delhi Jal Board said that more than 500 water bodies have been “returned” to the DDA. The DDA had granted no-objection certificates to DJB for work on these water bodies.
“A majority of the water bodies in Delhi are owned by the DDA and these have been sent back to them. The departments in the DDA and the DJB are both engineering departments and the DDA’s question was why they should not do this (rejuvenation of water bodies) themselves,” said a DJB official who is associated with the project. The official added that the process of returning these water bodies began around a month ago, and was underway even on Monday, when seven were returned.
A DDA official associated with water bodies said, “We had issued NOCs on the request of the DJB. But they have now returned it. They have written letters now saying that these are being returned. These are policy decisions that have been made.”
On many of the water bodies that are now being returned, work has not begun. “On a majority of water bodies that are being returned, work has not happened. Tenders were invited but not awarded. Now, on these, DJB will not work,” the official said.
For around 150 of these water bodies, the DJB had issued tenders but these had not yet been awarded. Among the prominent ones that have been returned are the Satpula lake, Tihar lake, Bhalswa lake, Tikri Khurd lake and a lake in Rani Khera. At the Satpula lake, no significant work had begun on the field since tenders were called multiple times and were not awarded. For Tihar Lake as well, tenders were invited.
Work by the DJB has been completed on 35 water bodies and was underway in seven.
“There were two main components to the work that was to be done on these water bodies. One was to ensure clean water supply in the water body and the second was to clean up the place and ensure a good ambience. The DJB was initially planning on doing all the work, including the landscaping, by itself. Now, all of the work will have to be taken up by the DDA,” the official said.
“The work that falls under the DJB’s ambit, which is to lay an intercepting drain near the Bhalswa lake, will be done by the DJB. But the overall work, which is work like cleaning of the pond and landscaping, will now have to be done by the DDA,” he explained.
“The DJB will maintain the water bodies on which work has already been completed. We have sent a memorandum of understanding to the DDA in this regard for approval,” the official said.
According to the DDC website, the Delhi government aimed to revive 500 lakes. In the first phase, 250 water bodies and 15 lakes were identified for rejuvenation.
[ad_2]
Source link