Agra officials visit Yamuna as NGT deadline approaches

Agra/Vrindavan: District officials here have been visiting the banks of the Yamuna for the past couple of days to gather information about encroachments on the river-bed. This follows a notice issued by the National Green Tribunal.

The Agra Development Authority, municipal corporation and the Agra district magistrate have to respond by May 20 to the notice issued on the basis of a petition filed on April 27 by environmentalist DK Joshi.

Joshi demanded that all encroachments on the river-bed be demolished.

The next hearing is scheduled for May 26.

District Magistrate Pankaj Kumar who with other officials carried out spot surveys expressed anguish and surprise at the state of Yamuna which has been reduced to a dumping site for garbage and collection point of effluents.

But while officials in Agra were busy preparing comprehensive responses to the notices, encroachers in Mathura and Vrindavan continued to pile garbage on the river bed to raise colonies and parking lots for vehicles.

River activists have brought the activities of the land mafiosi to the notice of local officials but so far no action has followed.

"They (land mafiosi) are too powerful and the local officials fear taking action against them, but letters have been sent and photos shared," said an NGO functionary not wanting to be identified.

The "ghats" (a flight of steps leading down to a river) along the town of Vrindavan has been pushed back a 100 metres and the river-front extended upto the pillars of a bridge whose construction was stayed by Allahabad High Court.

The stay order came into force on the basis of a petition by river activist Madhu Mangal Shukla.

Land in Vrindavan is scarce and is as dear as in Gurgaon.

"The dry river-bed has given a spurt to land-grabbing activities. From Vrindavan to Gokul, hundreds of illegal clusters of concrete structures called colonies have mushroomed and no one has bothered to stop them," said activist Rhais Qureshi.

Mathura's Braj Bachao Samiti has also emailed photographs of encroachment and called for action, but so far there has been no response from any quarter, said Manoj Choudhary, the president of the Samiti.

When the matter was brought to the notice of Mathura Sub-divisional Magistrate Rajesh Singh, he said he had no knowledge about the encroachments.

Later he said the area did not fall within his jurisdiction and suggested the activists contact Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority officials, who in turn said it was a matter that concerned the revenue department.

"The grim reality is that land in the eco-sensitive site is up for loot and land-grabbers with support from politicians are busy developing illegal colonies," a Vrindavan priest Ramji Baba said.

The operational model to grab land is simple: "Pile up garbage and go on levelling. Each day, Vrindavan generates enough waste to fill up several metres of the river bed. Within a month, a plot of 100 square metres could be all yours," said local panda G Raman.

"The waste and garbage, which includes hazardous substances, comes into contact with river water and contaminates it, but the state pollution control board officials in Mathura have never bothered to take any action," said local shop keeper Hari Prakash.