Soon, Delhi will be known as 'City of Lakes'

New Delhi: With the Aam Aadmi Party taking a pledge to rejuvenate around 250 water bodies in Delhi, the city famous for its historical monuments will soon be known as the 'City of Lakes'.

One might be surprised to imagine that so many water bodies exist in the national Capital. However, with the nod from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, this will soon be a reality.

The mega project has come under the purview of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is going to rejuvenate and revive the water bodies and create six new lakes.

Speaking to Millennium Post about the establishment of six new lakes, Ankit Srivastava, technical advisor to DJB said, "We are working on a project called 'City of Lakes', we have 250 water bodies where work needs to be done. We are beginning with the rejuvenation of 15 existing lakes. In the same project, we are creating six exclusive new lakes. While work on the rejuvenation of eight others is in progress."

The six lakes will come up at Timarpur, Rohini, Dwarka, Najafgarh, Biloti, and Rajghat.

The project is in collaboration with DJB. "We have already got permission, Delhi Jal Board will be putting in their own funds and rejuvenating water bodies, this also includes Sanjay Lake and Hauz Khas Lake that belongs to Delhi Development Authority (DDA)," said Srivastava.

Need to rejuvenate lakes

Lakes in Delhi have been treated as dumping ground, and encroachment in numerous cases. One prime example is the 47-acre Hauz Khas Lake, which has been dying a slow death. The residents have complained that the lake looks dirty and stinks as well.

Similarly, encroachment of lakes has taken place in many areas, while some lakes have also witnessed dumping of C&D waste. "People become hostile in few areas when officials go to visit the site. Some of these lakes have witnessed encroachment in the name of religion, while at few other places they are dumping C&D waste, local builders or contractors are also dumping solid, construction and demolition waste," explained Srivastava.

Srivastava added that the officials have to face "major issues" from the locals due to the encroachments. "At few locations, some of the local encroachers have even opposed and thrown stones at the officials," he added.

Planning and implementation

While 25 projects have already been handed over to the contractor, work on 24 others will begin in next four months. "Barring some issues at some places, work at almost all locations are going on, which includes either forest clearance or removal of garbage including solid waste that is there," said Srivastava.

The recent revival of Bawana's Sannoth village that stretches over three acres is one prime example of what DJB has in store for the lakes. Once a dried-up land, the lake is filled with water now.

"In the Bawana project there were two comprehends — one was to release water into the lake, another was the landscaping part. We have finished the water body filling up part. Next is the landscaping that will take another 3-4 months," observed Srivastava.

The Delhi government has apparently approved funds to the tune of Rs 453 crore for the 'City of Lakes' project.

Process of rejuvenation

"Rejuvenation of water bodies usually mean creating a wall around it and wait for the rains. However, we have changed that definition," said Srivastava, adding that their first priority is to arrange water that can fill up these water bodies.

Another example is Sanjay Lake that is receiving almost 80,000 litres of water from Kondli Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).

"We are not depending on rains and will be using treated water from existing STP, or we will create a small STP so that the lakes are filled on all the 365 days. For us, water is the priority and creating a construction wall and barricading comes last," added Srivastava.