If this happens, Yamuna will cease to exist in Delhi… 75% of the river’s floodplain is illegally encroached upon

In the country’s capital Delhi, 75 percent of the floodplain of India’s fourth largest river ‘Yamuna’ has been encroached upon. People have built permanent houses in the river’s catchment area. How did such a large scale illegal occupation take place in the national capital under the nose of the central and state governments? According to a new survey of the Delhi Development Authority, 75 percent of the floodplain of the Yamuna river in Delhi is such that people have encroached upon it and built big buildings on it.

This area is also called the ‘O-ZONE’ area of ​​the river, where any kind of construction work is strictly prohibited. But this new survey has revealed that out of the 9,700 hectare flood area of ​​the Yamuna river in Delhi, people have illegally occupied 7,362 hectares and built 5 to 7 storey buildings and in most of these buildings people are living on rent. This shows that behind this encroachment are not common people but land mafia.

Instructions for fencing around Yamuna river

These land mafias are continuously swallowing the floodplains of the Yamuna river and there is no one to stop them. The Delhi Development Authority has conducted this survey on the instructions of the Delhi High Court. If the High Court was not there, no one would have known that along with the roads and footpaths in Delhi, the floodplains of the Yamuna river have also been encroached upon illegally. This illegal encroachment continues even when the High Court has given instructions to protect the sensitive area of ​​the Yamuna river by putting up a fence around it.

A new building is being constructed in the floodplain of Yamuna river in Zakir Nagar area of ​​Delhi and this building will be 6 to 7 storeys high, in which people will live on rent and this is not just about this building. All the big buildings constructed on the part of Yamuna river in this area have 30 to 50 rooms, where people live on rent and these buildings earn a rent of at least 1 lakh rupees every month. Whereas these buildings are completely illegal and in the map of Yamuna river, this place is marked as floodplain of the river.

Encroachment is visible from DND Expressway

Apart from this, these buildings are so huge that they can be easily seen from the DND Expressway connecting Delhi to Noida. But the thing to think about is that the encroachment that we and you can see from this expressway is not visible to the government officials and ministers passing through here. Only two percent of the total length of the Yamuna river passes through Delhi. But, in this two percent area, there is illegal occupation and encroachment at more than two thousand places.

The O-Zone area of ​​the Yamuna river has been removed from the map in many areas including Kalindi Kunj, Okhla, Mayur Vihar, Geeta Colony, Kashmiri Gate and Wazirabad. And out of the 10 biodiversity parks that the government had built in the floodplain of the Yamuna river, 6 parks are illegally occupied. Last month, the Delhi High Court had given orders to free these parks from encroachment. But the encroachment mafia is so powerful that out of the 7,362 hectares of the Yamuna river floodplain that is illegally occupied, the government has been able to free only 700 hectares from encroachment.

75% of Yamuna floodplain encroached in three decades

All this encroachment has happened in the last 30 years. Till the year 1990, there was almost no illegal occupation in the floodplain of the Yamuna river. But after this, construction of big buildings started in the floodplain of the river and now in the year 2024, about 75 percent of the floodplain has been illegally occupied. It is believed that the existence of the Yamuna river is more than two crore years old and it is the largest tributary of the Ganges, which Sitaji considered so sacred that once she had apologized to this river only because she wanted to cross this river in a boat with Lord Shri Ram and Lakshman.

This Yamuna river provided Lord Shri Krishna a safe route to reach Gokul from Kansa’s prison after his birth. Even today, about 6 crore people in our country worship the Yamuna river every year. Just imagine, the river which is considered a form of goddess and is worshipped, some people are stealing a part of it and occupying it. Nothing can be more sad than this. If you want to do something for the Yamuna river, then after watching and reading this report of ours, do share it with your family and friends and relatives.