Majnu Ka Tila: Historic to modern via filth and sewage

A filthy trickle of a channel that is called Yamuna flowed away from the bank. Watching over her students at the Yamuna floodplains at Majnu Ka Tila, Urmi Chakraborty went back in time.
Her first memory of the Yamuna was when she traveled from Dehradun to Delhi long time ago. Crossing the Yamuna bridge to enter Delhi, she came face to face with the black and filthy water, actually a big drain. “I was disheartened. This was not the river we taught in schools,” Urmi, now a teacher at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV), Lodi Colony recalled.


Majnu Ka Tila’s Tibetan Colony was the stop two on day one of the Yamuna Katha. Dorjee Khandup, resident welfare association’s Pradhan gave a brief history of the colony. The colony was set up with 361 families on 10.2 acre area in 1961. The Government of India gave them the place after several people fled Tibet following the Dalai Lama. 

Dorje Donghup giving insights in Majnu Ka Tila's history

A short tour of the colony and then, the Yamuna Katha members were at the riverfront. The access to the river was between two homesteads through a broken high brick wall. Rinzin Wangmo, president of the women’s association from the Tibetan colony explained, “This wall is to stop people from throwing garbage into the river. (But) it also has a negative fallout. Youngsters are hardly aware there is a river beyond.” 

Rinzin Wangmo giving insights on Majnu Ka Tila's resident's attitude towards Yamuna

For most present, this was possibly the first actual encounter with Yamuna riverfront. Vast expanse of soil-cum-sand neatly cut into rectangular or square plots for growing vegetables. Traces of garbage, filth marked the human imprint. A narrow raised dirt track through the farms led to the trickle of a river, stark black. Migrant labours had built kuchcha houses  (wooden shacks) on the floodplain and with minimal essential things carry out their lives for at least six months on the riverbank. 


Urmi’s fascination – nay passion – for rivers started with her days in West Bengal. Visit to the Ganges at Kolkata was a regular feature. Then with her husband’s transferable job, she moved to places and enjoyed rivers far and wide – Narmada at Ankaleshwar in Gujarat; “filthy” Brahmaputra at Guwahaty; Bindal at Dehradun, Ganges again at Haridwar. “I stayed at Dehradun for so long, went to Haridwar but never once for a dubki (holy dip in a sacred river),” she added.     


Although staying in Delhi since last three years, it was only recently that she came into direct contact with the Yamuna when students of class X eco-club were carrying out an ‘Urban Sanitation Project’. “Students are enthusiastic enough and have strong values too. But, we never brought any students to the riverfront. Now I think, I will ... specially to show them the visible difference ‘before’ and ‘after’ Wazirabad,” she promised.


Vidhu Narayanan, 39, Urmi’s colleague can identify with the “distance” between a citizen and the river. A typical Delhi girl, she spent her childhood in RK Puram government colony. In all her growing years, she remembered crossing the Yamuna only once to reach a place called Yamunapaar (trans-Yamuna). 

Vidhu Narayanan during a discussion with residents of the Tibetan colony

However, things changed when in 2003 she shifted into a flat at Mayur Vihar in east Delhi. “The first thing my husband and I noticed was the Yamuna from our back window,” she exclaimed.


Now, at the Majnu Ka Tila riverfront with hardly any water in the river, Vidhu was shocked. “During monsoon when the juggis (shanties) come to the road side, we know there is flood happening. I remember last year’s flood distinctly. The river was full of water. Where has the water gone now?”


“It is not a natural river anymore. There is a drain emptying sewage right downstream the Wazirabad barrage,” informed Dwijender Kalia, core group member and river specialist. 
Soaking in the experience, the students and the Yamuna Katha members explored every possible aspect of the riverfront. Nobody kept track of time and was reminded that food was waiting for them. Wonderful lunch at a Tibetan eatery followed.


Panel discussion: “Majnu ka Tila and Yamuna – Strong or loose connection?”


Post lunch session saw a panel discussion at the Tibetan school compound. GIZ’s Regina Dube introduced the topic. Dorje briefly talked how the colony has changed over the years and the problems they are facing currently owing to the narrow congested lanes and their equation with Yamuna.  


Rinzin said, “In order not to pollute Yamuna, we pick up the garbage and burn it. But it is the polluted water that comes from upstream is what disturbs me.

Burning garbage to avoid river pollution - reality in Majnu Ka Tila

Delhi Jal Board’s Ajay Gupta said, “Unplanned growth has led to the pollution. However, we are hopeful and confident that with the interceptor sewer programme under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), Yamuna will be clean in three-four years.”

Members of Delhi Jal Board engaging into the discussion

When it was suggested to Rinzin to go for composting at the farm plots at the riverfront, she immediately said those farms are not ours. This prompted GIZ’s Aparna Das to put a question: “Whose river is this?” 

Farm plots at the riverbank

Migration has prompted unplanned growth and led to heavy urbanisation. But this has happened so rapidly and therefore unplanned. Dwijender Kalia pointed out “The plan is always made for long a term. The DJB plan – YAP – is only for four years … any plan should be made for at least 40 years.”


Atul Jain, who works for promotion of organic farming explained, “ The river should not be looked as mere resource for drinking water … river’s have their own eco-system. Each stakeholder has a distinct role for ensuring a pollution free river.”


The message that everybody took home was: “It is possible.” 

To a question, can Yamuna be pollution free? Urmi affirmed, “Yes, one day for sure. But it is not for a single person to do this job. Everybody has to pitch in” even as Vidhu showed the way, “I have already started working on a module for my students”

Yamuna in Delhi: The discovery begins

The location could not have been better. A beautiful full-to-the brim Yamuna flowed right besides where the Yamuna Katha journey started at Wazirabad.

After what seemed to be ages, the wait was over. Yamuna Katha, the project envisaged to bridge the gap between the river and the people and to understand the river-city dyad got off to a fantastic start.

Babita and Bhola Kashyap, from the fishermen’s community, from Madanpur Khadar; Chhotu Khan, a farmer tilling land on the Yamuna banks at Jagatpur; Dwijendra Kalia, a river specialist residing in Mayur Vihar; Gayatri Chatterjee, a social scientist from Pune; Rashid Khan, a haathi wala; Urmi Chakraborty (CR Park) and Vidhu Narayanan (Mayur Vihar), both teachers at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya – these contributed to the diversity of the core group.

At the Wazirabad water works of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the city’s water utility, the core group and other members of the GIZ, were joined in by few students from the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.

At the outset, DJB’s RK Garg, member (Water Supply/Drainage) gave an elaborate talk on Yamuna’s importance for Delhi and the urban sanitation scenario.  As much as 40 % of Delhi’s water needs are met by Yamuna, he said adding, “The unauthorized colonies add the maximum of the untreated sewage to the river”. A sewage master plan 2031 is in the pipeline, he informed.       

Arne Panesar of GIZ pointed out that experts alone are not enough to deal with the problem of river pollution. “We need people from diverse background,” he said.

Dr Ritu Priya, professor School of Social Sciences, JNU, gave the historical perspective of water distribution concepts. “There was never a place for people from class four in the British design for New Delhi. This led to inhabitation of the fringes and these unauthorized colonies increases untreated sewage,” she said.

Abhilasha Bakre, Anshula Mehta, Ananjay Sharma, Adarsh Kumar Singh, Shrishti Banzal, Khushboo Chattree and Anoushka Kopila – all class IX students of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya from plush Lodi Estate area of New Delhi too keenly took part in the activity.

Some activity by way of a project was already being done by them at their school level. Now, specially for the Yamuna Katha, these students came up with a project comprising various components, right from the stage of conception to implementation. Anshula Mehta said, “Social isolation can be mirrored by physical isolation. Access to sanitation can bring about the desired change.”

GIZ’s Regina Dube said it is for sure that there can’t be a simple and single solution. “The need is for the people from diverse background sit together and develop solutions for a clean, pollution free river,” she added.   

Then there was a round of the Wazirabad water works, first such experience for almost the entire group.

Next stop was the Tibetan resettlement colony at Majnu Ka Tilla. The colony was set up in 1961 with just 18 families that had escaped from Tibet then and came down to Delhi. Today, it has the same area but as many as 361 families. The colony, with narrow yet clean congested lanes, is awaiting regularization.

Dorjee Dhomdup, the Pradhan (head) of the resident welfare association and Rinzin Wangmo from the Women’s association, took great care of the group. On the cards was another first for most of the group. A visit to the actual sandy, alluvial Yamuna bank!!!

Just across the compound wall of the Tibetan colony, started the neat geometric designed farms wherein were grown variety of vegetables. Families tilling the flood plains lived on the Yamuna plains in make shift huts. The Yamuna flow – barely half a kilometer from the Wazirabad barrage – was reduced to just a black drain, flowing far away from the bank.

After a sumptuous Tibetan lunch, was time for a small yet wonderful cultural programme by students of the Tibetan school. It was followed by a panel discussion ‘Strong ties or loose connections?’ Everyone agreed that it was high time government agencies – specially the DJB – should be blamed for the pollution and it is time for each member of the society to do something.

The final session was held when the team Yamuna returned to the hotel. After a quick round of tea and snack, the team deliberated over the events during the day and also discussed the following day’s programmes.

Is there a river in Delhi?

Yes, that was the first question that popped up in the mind of Alexander Koecher, a team member of Yamuna Katha project, when he first heard of Yamuna here.
Alexander a.k.a. Alex has been travelling to the city for various reasons since 2004. But never had he heard of it before July 2011, his latest visit. There is no attraction for tourists vis-à-vis Yamuna. Even the tourist information brochures about Delhi by both India Tourism and Delhi Tourism speak about a lot of places of interest in Delhi but are completely silent about Yamuna.

Foreigners will never know there is a river in the city, he says. He did ‘discover’ Yamuna. Around three months ago, when he was told about the Yamuna Katha project, Alex started digging in more and more about the river purported to be the city’s lifeline.
His first encounter with the river was at Majnu Ka Tilla (tilla meaning a hillock). The place is famous for the Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tila and the Tibetan settlement.

A Muslim hermit named Majnu (the crazy one) – called so as he was crazy to get a glimpse of the Divine – used to stay here. In the 15th century, Guru Nanak, the Sikh guru, helped him attain self realization and hence, the place was named Majnu Ka Tilla after his death.
Metres away, the Tibetan settlement sees another kind of craziness. It is considered by Tibetans in exile as the commercial centre for the community as, over the years, the place has emerged as a hub of hotels, restaurants, cyber cafes, handicrafts shops, Tibetan curios, CD/DVD shops and last but not the least, books on Tibet and all things Tibetan. 

Accessing the river from a landscaped park facing the riverfront and looking down at the Yamuna, the first thing that hit Alex was: ‘It stinks’. Soon a visit to the northen-most part of Yamuna in Delhi, at Jagatpur village helped … the flood plains, the clean air and the farmland. “There I had a totally different view of Yamuna. The river was beautiful,” Alex says.
But more than this, Yamuna Bazar brought in better connect for the trained political scientist who has also studied history and communication. The greenery and the boat ride to the temple in the middle of the river gave him the feel of the history of the place. “You enter another kind of world, different from rest of Delhi.”

Yamuna Bazar is an old settlement of Delhi comprising residential havelis, smlll shops, government offices and religious places. One look from the river towards the Bazar and as Alex said, it is totally different from the rest of Delhi. 

A thorough optimist, he thinks there is a huge chance for development and cleaning of Yamuna. The need is to give back the river its natural condition. But who will do it?
“The people of Delhi, who wish to change,” pat comes the reply.

The river can look very romantic... (photo: Alexander Koecher)

...but fishing in the middle of soapy water does not look inviting (photo: Alexander Koecher)

An encounter with Hathis, as suprising as beautiful (photo: Alexander Koecher)

Yamuna Bazar, beautiful scenery but is swimming advisable here? (photo: alexander Koecher)