Golden Jubilee of Yamuna’s riverfront destruction?

The sprawling green lawns bore no tell tale signs of being a riverfront. It was more of a manicured landscaped garden, which can be anywhere. In the background was the old Loha Pul, the sturdy iron bridge from British vintage.

Golden Jubilee Park with Loha Pul in the background

For a layman, the place was a wonderful opportunity to spend time by the river, though invisible from that point. However, it also offered a poignant reminder of the fact that in 2006, hundreds of people were rendered homeless after authorities evicted them forcibly.

Soon after its own golden jubilee, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) decided to give itself, a manicured lawn with several riverfront projects proposed.

This was the venue for an open air, open panel discussion: “Moving the Juggernaut called Delhi.” The Yamuna Katha team was joined by Manu Bhatnagar from Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage and German elected representative Marie Luise von Halem, also the member of one of the state parliaments in Germany.

Open discussion in Golden Jubilee Park

German member of state parliament
Marie Luise v. Halem engaging in the discussion

Initiating the discussion, Bhatnagar pointed out how rural areas are decreasing and urban areas are increasing. “Even in the city, the natural landscapes are vanishing and more and more artificial landscapes are coming up, just like this park.”

Immediately Chhote Khan got up to say, “The authorities removed the slums from this very place where we are sitting because they labeled them as dirtying the river. But they have not yet stopped pollution by way of sewage being emptied into the river through a number of drains. Bhatnagar added fire to it: “Pollution is just one problem. Other is the reduced flow of river.”

Echoed Bhola Kashyap: “My livelihood depends upon the river. Every year there is less and less water. Earlier there were crocodiles and farms all along the river bank.”

Bhola making his point

His Babita, who is an active partner in his business too, drew attention to the fact that almost eight months the river flows with it only garbage and filth. Only three months of monsoon, there is ample water and they get good catch.

GIZ’s Aparna Das played the devil’s advocate as she said, she is interested in “a river facing multi-storied apartment building. Why do we need crocodiles anyways?”

The discussion then went on touching various aspects such as clear water indicators, ground water recharge, more and more land being reclaimed in the name of bridges and various other structures, definition of city, approach of the administrators, what teachers can do and students do, riverfront development and so on and so forth.  

It also had death-knell sounding declaration by the faithful such as Bhola who asserted: “Yamuna will ultimately claim back its lost land.”

Gayatri Chatterjee, one of the core members, could empathies with this feeling. “I like the river-people connect. In fact, I react to the rivers,” she said.

Has a stong connection to rivers: Gayatri Chatterjee

Someone who had lived for five years by the side of the Ganga in West Bengal and later, when she lived in Bihar, could see Suvarnarekha from her house, she feels there is “something almost like punarjanma (re-birth) about my river connection. If I am travelling, sleeping, I wake up when I approach a river.”

On the same lines, the question if the students are taken to the riverfront was posed. The two teachers Urmi Chakraborty and Vidhu Narayanan admitted the students were not taken to the river. So was the DDA’s latest announcement about riverfront development was discussed threadbare and also discussed was the need to develop and nurture the ‘river connect’. “But will that attempt get my child a job tomorrow?” asked Aparna, playing the devil now.

Erupted Gayatri: “It is not a question of job market. We have to think in realistic terms. Children should know the relation between them and the river.” Gayatri, who teaches cinema in India and abroad too, said, “Teaching cinema, you turn into a social scientist or a philosopher, actually both.”

Now, since last 30 years settled in Pune. But when young she had traveled to places all over the country: UP, MP, Bihar and West Bengal etc. In her late 30s, she remembers coming from Muradnagar along in father’s car and halt at the roadside at the Yamuna. Coming down from the vehicle, they would go straight to the vehicle, which would be tarbuja, kakadi, Kharbuja etc.

Towards the end, the Yamuna Katha team was joined by another activist for another river. Anil Madhav Dave, who runs Narmada Samagra working in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, said, “Human beings think about the river as if his/her efforts would save the river. What can a human with a life span of 70-80 years do for a river that has been flowing since ages?” Dave said.     

The tone for conclusion was set by Sadhu ram, a rustic from the hinterlands: “The authorities have ‘shrunk’ the river. They put themselves above the Almighty.” 

Yamuna at its best state – in Jagatpur village near Delhi

That Yamuna looks like a river – unlike the filthy drain – upstream of Wazirabad was known to many of the Yamuna Katha yatris. But no one – except of course Chhotu Khan and Rashid Khan – was ready for the sight at Jagatpur, a small prosperous village in north Delhi on Thursday morning.

Vast swathe of fertile alluvial soil with taller-than-human weeds, a dusty winding road from the bund road leading to the water front and then … water sans garbage, sans plastic waste, literally free from all kinds of pollution. “I just can’t believe we are in Delhi on the Yamuna bank,” said an excited Arun Raj, who works with Force, an NGO working on water.  

Arun, a passenger with the core group who joined for the day, had read about the history of the river and its connection with the city. “Delhi has remained just as a fragment of the glorious history,” he said.

Jagatpur river front visit became an important fragment for the Yamuna Katha yatris. The group members thrilled to find the company of none other than a female elephant Rupa. Almost everybody spent time in observing the elephant, clicking photographs, asking the mahavat about Rupa’s habit.

Elephant Rupe carrying passengers Claudia and Ellen
(photo: Alex Köcher)

Apart from the major attraction of the beautiful unlike-in-Delhi Yamuna, the riverfront offered other attractions and photo opportunities too. A bunch of fishermen were readying for embarking on a fishing journey up stream of the Yamuna; a tractor and its trolley were brought for washing; minutes later, another tractor-trolley brought a newly painted boat to be deployed in waters and last but not the least – and what a sight it was – a herd of buffaloes gently entering the river and swiftly swimming across to the riverine island.

Local fishermen embarking to bring in fresh fish (photo: Alex: Koecher) 

That was a moment which everyone enjoyed what with the buffaloes actually posing for the shutterbugs and the buffalo owners with bright coloured turbans doling out sound bytes for the camera team. “I had always been disheartened with the state of Yamuna. Never had I imagined, Yamuna bank in Delhi would be so much fun,” said Urmi Chakraborty, a core team member and a geography teacher passionate about rivers.

Buffalos longing for a bath (photo: Alex Koecher)

After more than two hours of fun, the Yamuna Katha team mates moved on to the next stop: the Ramghat, just north of Wazirabad village. The ghat (stepped embankment), is actually a cluster of temples, old and new. A large area is semi-circles with temples on the river side with space for parking vehicles on one side and a number of small kuchcha structures/tea kiosks for selling pooja material and other items lining the other side.

The water front resembled a ghat in any of the rural riverfronts. The ghats, replete with temples, shiv lingas (Lord Shiva’s manifest symbol) jutting right in the middle of the ghat, idle row boats resting by the bank and the omnipresent garbage in the form of flower waste from pooja remains, wooden planks and even refuse by way of some plaster of Paris statues. No, it again did not seem like Delhi. But Delhi it was.

Ramghat (photo: Alex Koecher)

After a round of hot tea from one of the kiosks, team members dispersed to explore the bank on their own. In small huddles, the passengers and the core group members exchanged ideas and keenly debated various issues. But the common thread that was emerging – and was very evident as the time passed by – was that each one of the team was equally concerned about the Yamuna.

Core group members Gayatrie and Rasheed discussing over tea
(photo: Alex Koecher)

A delicious lunch followed by rest as the sun peaked right above in the blue October sky, and the team was ready for the next adventure. Golden Jubilee Park by the riverfront right in front of the historical Red Fort and the Salimgarh Fort was the next destination.

The sprawling park does offer a good site along the Yamuna bank with the Loha Pul (the old iron bridge) in the background completing the picture frame. However, the place had a gory history … in the immediate past. Dwijender Kalia, the in house river expert from the core members’ team reminded: “In 2006, almost a lakh people were thrown out from the slums that occupied this very place then known as Jamuna Pushta. The displaced were thrown away from the main stream yet again as they were offered rehabilitation at Bawana and such far flung places.”

Discussion in the open at Golden Jubilee Park (photo: Alex Koecher)

With this note, started the discussion about ‘Moving a Juggernaut called Delhi’. Manu Bhatnagar, water conservationist and an active academic expert associated with conservation NGO Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) initiated and moderated the discussion. The group was joined by GIZ guests and a German elected representative Marie Luise von Halem, member of one of the state parliaments in Germany. The discussion ranged from water pollution, reasons for it, the reduced flow of water in the Yamuna, what does Yamuna offer to a city, what do people identify and understand with the city, the very definition of city, the approach of the planners and policy makers etc.

But one remark from Sadhuram, a rustic farmer tilling land near the Park, garnered the most appreciation. “They have shrunk the river. Upar wale ko nahi, apane aap ko bada maanate hai woh. (They think they are bigger than the Lord Almighty),” the simpleton said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Towards the end, the Yamuna Katha team was joined by an activist working for another river. Atul Jain, a passenger who had joined the team on day one, came calling in on day two too and brought along Anil Madhav Dave, a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and an activist who runs an NGO called Narmada Samagra, which works in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat along the Narmada river.  

Dave, also a member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, said a human being thinks about the river as if his or her efforts are going to “save” the river. “We think the river as water body and not a living eco-system. The moment we think it as a body, we think of reviving it, saving it et al. But tell me, what can a human with a life span of hardly 70-80 years do for a river which is flowing since ages? The idea is to ‘serve’ the river and not brag about saving it.”

The discussion ended on a note of optimism that each one in his or her capacity should continue its efforts for the river and work towards increasing the tribe.

The last item on the agenda, before returning to the hotel, was looked forward and enjoyed the most by every single member of the team. Kite flying opened up each other and brought in moments of sheer joy for all.