Letter to Hon'ble LG _new bridge planned over river Yamuna _ - 4.7 ...

4 July 2013
YJA/CORRES/7/13
Sri Tejendra Khanna
Hon'ble Lt Governor
DELHI
Sub: Sir, new bridge planned over river Yamuna upstream of Wazirabad, if ever raised,
should not compromise the rive
Respected Sir,
Greetings from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.
Sir, we have learnt from media reports about PWD NCTD plans to construct a new bridge across
river Yamuna, upstream of the barrage cum road at Wazirabad in north Delhi.
While we have no issues with more bridges, as long as these are true bridges, over the river Yamuna
in NCTD, we find the argument, as mentioned in the press report, that just because other cities in
the world like London, Paris, Rome have bridges on their respective rivers much more in number
than over river in Delhi and so the latter also need have more bridges, as being fallacious and
unacceptable.
Sir, the fact remains that planning of bridges in Delhi or any where else should be based on sound
assessment of need and not on any other consideration, whatsoever, since bridges however well
planned do interfere with a river's structure and ecology.
Sir, presently the river Yamuna upstream of Wazirabad barrage - but for the unfortunate advance
bund constructed in north east Delhi, resulting in coming up of avoidable unauthorised colonies like
Sonai Vihar and Rajeev nagar in the river's active flood plain - is still free and its flood plain is
available to it.
Also the fact that there is no existing pontoon bridge over the river Yamuna any where in NCTD
upstream of Wazirabad in north Delhi, corroborates to the fact that there is little cross river vehicular
transport there between east and west Delhi. So why do we need a bridge there?
Sir, the nature of the river and its flood plain in north Delhi upstream of Wazirabad barrage is much
different and fortunately still little disturbed except the embankments on its either side. The fact also
is that it is this available flood plain and the free river which helps the city withstand the pressure of
floods in the river as has been witnessed recently both during Aug-Sep 2010 and in June 2013.
(pl see enclosed pictorial report).

Sir, it is also important that in the interest of the safety of the city downstream of Wazirabad, the
integrity of the river and its water spread upstream of Wazirabad is not allowed to be compromised
since in the eventuality of a massive release of say 9-10 lakh cusec at Hathnikund barrage (very
much in the realm of possibility in the light of more than 8 lakh cusec seen in June 2013), which
would mean more than 5 lakh cusec water reaching the city it may be necessary for the safety of the
city to open some embankments to permit spread of water in farms and lands beyond the
embankments in zone P II. Thus compromising of the integrity of the river system through raising of
any structure including a bridge in north Delhi (Zone P II) is risky and inadvisable.
Now in an unlikely scenario, where expert studies do necessitate a bridge over the river Yamuna
upstream of Wazirabad in Delhi, then such a bridge may only be a long (no less than 5 km between
embankments as has been held by the Yamuna Standing Committee way back in 1979) and a true
bridge over pillars all along its length (with no guide bund in between to channelise the river in any
manner) so that the bridge does not inhibit the flow and spread of flood waters in any manner.
Unfortunately all the bridges presently in the city over the river are with the sole exception of under
construction DMRC bridge downstream of HNZ bridge, are 'pseudo bridges' (please peruse our
enclosed report on it) where they have on one hand channelised the river and on the other
created avoidable cross embankments in the river in form of raised roads. Such poorly planned
bridges are not good for the river as well as for themselves during very high flows. Here allow us to
mention that both the bridges on river Yamuna at Kalanour (Yamunanagar) and at Mawi (Panipat-
Kairana) faced trouble and closure over extended periods in 2010 and 2013 respectively due to
design faults, where cautionary additional spans could have avoided the damage and trouble faced
both by the bridges and the people using it.
Sir, we hope that your goodself shall see merit in our submission and accordingly caution the
concerned authorities.
With warm regards,
Manoj Misra
Convener
CC:
Smt Sheila Dixit, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Delhi – For your kind information and necessary action please.
Chairman, Yamuna Standing Committee, Central Water Commission, Sewa Bhawan, R.K. Puram, New
Delhi – For your kind information and necessary action please.
Chairman, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110 003 – For
your kind information and necessary action please.
Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority – For your kind information and necessary action please.

Introduction
WHY ‘PSEUDO’ BRIDGES ARE UNDESIRABLE OVER THE RIVER YAMUNA?
Manoj Misra*
A bridge over a river is a man made structure to enable safe and easy conveyance of man and
material across a river.
Thus the purpose of a bridge is to convey. It is not to obstruct the river in its natural course and
functions. Most importantly, it must not restrict by design the unhindered spread and flow
downstream of the flood waters. This is the reason why a ‘true’ bridge would span over the entire
known flood plain of a river from it’s one bank to the other. It is also the reason why a smart
engineer would choose the narrowest portion of a river to build a bridge over it and plan a road or
railway’s alignment in the manner. But now a days especially in an urban setting with roads and
railways (Metro in particular) criss-crossing every part of a city, such smart choices of sites for
bridges get remoter by the day.
Situation of river in urban Delhi
It is admitted that there can certainly be bridges built over just the lean season channel of a river
provided the approach road to them is no higher than the natural level of the river bed, so that
these in times of floods do not act as cross embankments to the flow downstream of a river in spate.
And there were such examples of pontoon bridges built annually at Majnu Ka Tila, Gita colony,
Bhairon Road and Sarai Kale Khan till recent times, but none of these ever proved to be a hindrance
to the flow of flood waters in the city since their approach roads followed the natural contour and
level of the river bed.
But the unscientific and hence unfortunate state of the bridges over the river Yamuna in the 22 km
stretch of the river in the city is that but for the British built bridge (old Yamuna Bridge joining
Salimgarh Fort to Shahdara area) none of the other existing 7 bridges (ISBT, DMRC Shastri Park,
Gita Colony, DMRC Yamuna Bank, New Railway Bridge, HNZ Bridge, DND flyway) or under
construction Signature Bridge is a ‘true’ bridge. They are all cross embankments raised on the river,
with the bridge portion covering just the rivers’ lean season channel of 500 – 800 m span against its
actual length of 2.5 – 3 km. This it appears has been done on the lines of the 3 barrages standing on
the river in the city, namely the ones at Wazirabad, ITO and at Okhla. But while a ‘barrage’ is meant
to hold and divert water from a river, a ‘bridge’ is not. So when cross embankments in the river get
built in the name of bridges (pseudo) then they too begin to act like barrages and lead to the
following objectionable and undesirable results?
Channelisation of the river
It may be noted that the river Yamuna has a natural tendency to meander within its flood plains. In
the 22 km stretch of the river in Delhi it has a pronounced meander whereby the river channel shifts
repeatedly from west to east and to west again.

Natural meander in the river in 22 km of river in urban Delhi
The creation of pseudo bridges on it results in ‘fixing’ and ‘freezing’ in time and space the current
river meander within the guide bunds of the existing pseudo bridges and thus effectively
‘channelises’ the river. It may be noted that such ‘channelisation by default’ of a naturally
meandering river could prove deleterious to the bridges themselves during the times of floods.
Today in most parts of the world where such past channelisation had been carried out, it is being
scoffed at and actively discouraged after their sad experiences of devastations from the floods made
worse due to the channelisation of their naturally meandering rivers.
It is a strange irony that while the state policy in the city as enshrined in the Master Plan (MPD
2021) has abandoned the concept of channelisation of the river after actively pursuing it in the
1990s, it continues to practice channelisation by default in form of the construction of pseudo
bridges on the river.
Is it too much to ask our planners to learn from the mistakes of others and to safeguard our flood
plains while we still have them, rather lament later when all would have been lost?
Avoidable, unnecessary and even risky impoundment of flood waters
When bridges (pseudo) start to function as barrages, the obvious outcome is the impoundment of
flood waters behind their raised approach roads cum cross embankments. In normal course this
flood water should have after spreading over the flood plain, flowed down the stream in channels
more than one (many of which become active in times of floods) during the times of floods.
Such an artificial and avoidable impoundment of water plays havoc with the underlying aquifer
system and over-saturates them in no time.
Often such short and quick time over-saturation of aquifers (unless pumped out in quick time) could
prove disastrous for nearby structures including residential buildings by submerging their
foundations with standing water. The most unfortunate incident on 15 November 2010 in the Lalita

Park locality of East Delhi, where a 5 story building came tumbling down for reasons much more
than poor construction quality and claimed 71 unsuspecting victims is a case in point.
Temptation to encroach upon and build on ‘reclaimed’ (sic) flood plains
It is no secret that the remaining flood plain of the river in urban Delhi is eyed by the developmental
agencies of the state and non state interests alike, for reclamation and development (sic) in form of
construction and concretisation. And such channelisation of the river through construction of pseudo
bridges helps them in their eagerness to reclaim and build. Past experiences like the DMRC
complexes at both Shastri Park and at Yamuna bank, the Akshardham, the Games Village for CWG
2010 and the DTC bus depot in the river bed are pointers in the matter. It may be noted that only if
the existing bridges on the river had been ‘true’ bridges, none of the above state sponsored
encroachments in the flood plain would even have been thought of in the active flood plain of the
river.
The NEERI report
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, NEERI at Nagpur, was commissioned a
study in 1998 of the 22 km stretch of the river in Delhi by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
The purpose was to suggest a plan for the rejuvenation of the river. NEERI after a detailed study
found and suggested the following:
“The river has lost its carrying capacity to safely convey the highest floods expected in the city and
hence the river bed’s natural topography must not be compromised in any manner”.
The Yamuna Standing Committee (YSC)
It is a sad fact that the Yamuna Standing Committee (YSC) which is an inter-state expert body in the
Central Water Commission (CWC) and is charged with the responsibility for the river has often
succumbed to the pressure tactics of different state governments and sometimes even compromised
on its own set norms. The following words of the then Chairman of the YSC at its 68 th meeting is an
indication enough of the tough task at hand of the YSC:
“The Chairman expressed his concern about the tendency of various developmental agencies to
encroach the flood plains of river Yamuna”.
The YSC often goes by the advice received from the Pune based CWPRS (Central Water and Power
Research Station), a central government agency, which assesses different developmental proposals
from the point of view of upstream afflux that might result in times of floods from the construction of
a structure. Now as is well known that afflux is just one of the many impacts of a structure standing
in a river bed and hence it cannot and should not be treated as an enough and sufficient assessment
for a fully informed decision making by the YSC. More over we feel that the YSC should also have
expert ecologists and river experts on its decision making panel.
We at YJA had been given an opportunity by the Yamuna Standing Committee (YSC) to present our
view points at its 74 th meeting held on 15 th July 2008 and we hope that our pleadings for the river
had its impact in that it (YSC) approved the proposal of PWD for the construction of a new road
bridge across the river Yamuna at 1600 m upstream of existing HNZ road bridge subject to the
condition that the approach road on left side of river Yamuna should be constructed on
stilts (i.e, on piers) to allow flood water to flow freely.

The situation of the flood plain during the floods of 2010
It may be recalled that the floods of Aug – Sep 2010 were in the nature of major floods in the river
in the city when the water level in the city touched 207.11 m against the all time recorded high of
207.44 m in the year 1978.
It is a recorded fact that the entire available flood plains in the city went under deep waters as a
result of the said floods.
A view of the ‘flooded’ flood plains in river Yamuna in Delhi from
the over bridge near Akshardham dated 13 Sep 2010
Suggestions
Against the above observations and the prediction of various models of high and frequent floods
from the imminent impacts from Climate Change, it is suggested that no more ‘pseudo’ bridges may
be permitted to be built in the river bed. And the condition of approach road on stilts as specified by
the YSC in its 74 th meet must be stipulated for any new bridge across the river Yamuna in the city.
There is even a case to consider opening up of few clearings in the existing pseudo bridges in the
city for the ease of safe downstream flow of flood waters.
*Manoj Misra is the Convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.

SPREAD OF WATER UPSTREAM OF WAZIRABAD DURING 2013 FLOODS
Water spread near Palla village. 19.06.13
Near Jhangola Village. 19.06.13

Near Hiranki village. 19.06.1