‘No damage to floodplains by AoL’

New Delhi: In a change of events, a committee set up to submit an action plan for restoring Yamuna floodplains after the damage done by the “Art of Living” (AoL) event last year has said that there was no compaction of the soil on the site where the event was held.

The three-member committee told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that the land where the function was held was found to be fully covered with grass and some saplings of tree species.

The findings of the report are different to that of an earlier seven-member expert panel that had alleged that the floodplains were completely destroyed due to the World Cultural Festival of AoL.

The three-member committee, which was formed by NGT after submission of report by the larger panel said, “This kind of grass and natural regeneration of seedlings is not possible on compacted soil. The area was also under water in small depressions in majority of the areas where function was held. No significant size of the wetland/ water body was noticed by the committee in the area used by AoL.”

The panel comprises principal commissioner of DDA’s horticulture department and chief engineers from the irrigation departments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Referring to Google Earth images, the committee said in its report, submitted before a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, that it could not locate any “heap of debris” on the site and it is evident that no “wetland or water body” is seen on the site prior to the event.

“The committee also inspected the areas on eastern bank which are under the control of UP government. This site as informed by chief engineer was used for parking of vehicles on 15 hectare land permitted by them to AoL temporarily for the event,” it said.

“He informed the committee members that this land was being used by farmers for raising agricultural crops prior to the function and at present also the site is under agricultural crops,” it added.

With regard to the removal of the toxins that may have leached out of the dumped debris on the site, the panel said that two successive monsoons might have already washed away such material.