Appeal sent to the President of Indian Olympic Association

28 February 2007 

YJA/CG/07 

Sri Suresh Kalmadi, M.P., 

President 

Indian Olympic Association 

Gate No. 25 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 

New Delhi - 110 003. 

Sir, 

Sub: Proposed Commonwealth Games (CG) village site – regarding 

We the citizens of the city of Delhi, who have come together to form the ‘Yamuna 

Jiye Abhiyaan’ - a citizens group for the revival of river Yamuna, humbly make the 

following observations for your kind and urgent consideration. 

We take pride and feel happy that, thanks largely to your leadership the Indian 

Olympic Association (IOA) has won the intensely competed bid for the city of Delhi to 

host the Commonwealth Games (CG) in 2010. But we feel equally distressed to note 

that despite the continuing protestations from environmentalists as well as the 

advice of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), the CG village 

needed to host the Games continues to be planned in the river Yamuna. 

What amazes us most is the complete disregard of the following facts in planning for 

building the CG village in the river Yamuna flood plains by the concerned authorities: 

• It is well known that the proposed CG village site is in the river Yamuna flood 

plains 

• River Yamuna along its 22 km stretch in Delhi State is already under 

tremendous anthropogenic pressures of rampant pollution and encroachments 

so much so that the Hon. High Court of Delhi was constrained (in disgust) to 

constitute on 1 st January 2006 a high powered committee headed by Justice 

(retired) Usha Mehra to over see on a day by day basis the removal of ALL 

encroachments within 300 m (in the first instance) on either side of the river 

in Delhi. 

Advisors Samar Singh H S Panwar Sureshwar D Sinha 

Members CMS Environment / LIFE / Matu People’s Organisation / Pani Morcha / PEACE Institute / Ridge Bachao 

Andolan / Toxics Link 

________________________________________________________________________________ 

Secretariat 178‐F, Pocket ‐ 4, Mayur Vihar ‐ I, Delhi ‐ 110 091 Telefax 91‐11‐22719005 

e‐mail yamunajiye@gmail.com 

www.peaceinst.org / www.toxicslink.org

• Resultantly by 13.12.2006 a total of 11280 Jhuggis (slums) have reportedly 

been removed and relocated out of the river Yamuna bed and the flood plain 

by the DDA and the Delhi administration. The said work continues to be 

pursued actively under the Hon. High Court’s directions. 

• So while on one hand the Hon HC of Delhi is pursuing the cause of the revival 

of Yamuna in Delhi by the removal of encroachments in the river it is indeed 

ironical that the CG village is being planned in a manner which would be 

contrary to the intent of the Hon. High Court and certainly against securing 

the future of the beleaguered river Yamuna in Delhi by adding yet more 

permanent structure/s in the name of CG village in the river flood plains. 

• It is no secret that once the CG village comes up it will lead to an irreversible 

process of construction spree all along the river Yamuna river flood plain 

leading to the most unfortunate and environmentally disastrous scenario 

whereby the river in Delhi would become even more polluted than it already 

is. Moreover the construction activity would result in creation of more slums 

(JJ colonies) consisting of the construction workers who would necessarily be 

involved in the raising of the games village. 

• So, if things persist the way they seem to have been planned, Delhi is headed 

for the unfortunate pass of disastrous consequences (including loss of life and 

property) akin to those caused in Mumbai during the monsoon of 2005 

resulting from the encroachments on the river Mithi in the city. Kindly recall 

that in recent times, Delhi in 1977, 1978, 1988 and in 1995 has been inflicted 

by severe floods in river Yamuna whence flood waters had entered several 

areas in the city causing widespread misery to people and loss of property as 

well as engulfed the entire stretch of the existing flood plains including the 

proposed site of the CG village. 

• It is also well known that Delhi lies in the zone IV (fairly high seismic 

vulnerability) in the seismic map of the country and within Delhi, the Yamuna 

river bed and the flood plains (consisting mainly of alluvial deposits) have 

been found to be the most vulnerable in the event of an earth quake 

happening / impacting Delhi. 

• According to the ground water map of the city of Delhi, the river Yamuna 

flood plain (including the site of the proposed CG village) is amongst the last 

remaining source of ground water recharge in this fresh water parched city of 

ours. 

We at the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, hence humbly appeal to you and to all the 

others concerned that in the light of the above, kindly review the plans of raising the 

CG village at the proposed site, specially in view of the fact that there is still time to 

reconsider till 30 April 2007 when the union Ministry of Environment and Forests 

(MOEF) has to finally decide on the matter. 

It is also well known that the city of Delhi already has a Games Village in the Siri Fort 

area which was raised for the Asiad held in Nov – Dec 1982. We fail to understand as 

to why that games village cannot be refurbished and used for the CG games which is 




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ut a 10 day event scheduled from 3 -14 Oct 2007. And if that games village is 

today not available for the CG 2010 then does it mean that the story would again be 

repeated and yet another games village be raised (possibly in some other part of the 

Yamuna river) for the Asiad 2014 that the IOA under your leadership is reportedly 

planning to bid for? 

Now even if a new games village is necessary, why can’t such a village be raised in 

an alternate site (Bawana for instance) where the relocated families of the JJ 

colonies uprooted from the river flood plains have been rehabilitated consequent to 

the directions of the Hon. High Court. In such an event while the river flood plain 

would remain undisturbed the people thus relocated would be gainfully employed in 

activities related to the building of the CG 2010 village. 

Sir, kindly note that we at the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan are duty bound by our 

fundamental duties of a citizen as enshrined in Article 51-A of the nation’s 

constitution, to bring the above to your notice and to appeal humbly to you and 

others to not let the city’s life line in form of river Yamuna get into a mind less 

‘developmental’ spiral endangering its whole existence in due course of time. 

Sir, river flood plains as you well know are critical components of any river 

ecosystem which are on one hand critical for the recharge of the ground water 

and on the other act as an insurance against the likely havoc resulting from 

severe floods in the river system. 

The ancient and historic city of Delhi today stands at a very critical juncture of its 

existence. And what you and other decision makers would decide on the question of 

the CG 2010 village would eventually decide the river Yamuna’s and in turn the city’s 

ultimate fate. There are alternative sites for the said Games village available 

elsewhere (already suggested by knowledgeable experts and town planners) with in 

the city and hence there is no reason why in the light of the above facts such 

alternatives should not be assessed and chosen in place of the proposed site in the 

river Yamuna. 

Sir, time and tide wait for none. Let our future generations not fault us by 

saying that we failed to act when it mattered the most! 

Warm regards, 

Manoj Kumar Misra 

Convenor 

Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan 




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Appeal sent to the President of Indian Olympic Association

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