Letter to Hon'ble LG _new bridge planned over river Yamuna _ - 4.7 ...
Letter to Hon'ble LG _new bridge planned over river Yamuna _ - 4.7 ...
Letter to Hon'ble LG _new bridge planned over river Yamuna _ - 4.7 ...
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Natural meander in the <strong>river</strong> in 22 km of <strong>river</strong> in urban Delhi<br />
The creation of pseudo <strong>bridge</strong>s on it results in ‘fixing’ and ‘freezing’ in time and space the current<br />
<strong>river</strong> meander within the guide bunds of the existing pseudo <strong>bridge</strong>s and thus effectively<br />
‘channelises’ the <strong>river</strong>. It may be noted that such ‘channelisation by default’ of a naturally<br />
meandering <strong>river</strong> could prove deleterious <strong>to</strong> the <strong>bridge</strong>s themselves during the times of floods.<br />
Today in most parts of the world where such past channelisation had been carried out, it is being<br />
scoffed at and actively discouraged after their sad experiences of devastations from the floods made<br />
worse due <strong>to</strong> the channelisation of their naturally meandering <strong>river</strong>s.<br />
It is a strange irony that while the state policy in the city as enshrined in the Master Plan (MPD<br />
2021) has abandoned the concept of channelisation of the <strong>river</strong> after actively pursuing it in the<br />
1990s, it continues <strong>to</strong> practice channelisation by default in form of the construction of pseudo<br />
<strong>bridge</strong>s on the <strong>river</strong>.<br />
Is it <strong>to</strong>o much <strong>to</strong> ask our planners <strong>to</strong> learn from the mistakes of others and <strong>to</strong> safeguard our flood<br />
plains while we still have them, rather lament later when all would have been lost?<br />
Avoidable, unnecessary and even risky impoundment of flood waters<br />
When <strong>bridge</strong>s (pseudo) start <strong>to</strong> function as barrages, the obvious outcome is the impoundment of<br />
flood waters behind their raised approach roads cum cross embankments. In normal course this<br />
flood water should have after spreading <strong>over</strong> the flood plain, flowed down the stream in channels<br />
more than one (many of which become active in times of floods) during the times of floods.<br />
Such an artificial and avoidable impoundment of water plays havoc with the underlying aquifer<br />
system and <strong>over</strong>-saturates them in no time.<br />
Often such short and quick time <strong>over</strong>-saturation of aquifers (unless pumped out in quick time) could<br />
prove disastrous for nearby structures including residential buildings by submerging their<br />
foundations with standing water. The most unfortunate incident on 15 November 2010 in the Lalita