The Hindu : New Delhi News : Yamuna Satyagraha activists detained

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Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
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New Delhi

Yamuna Satyagraha activists detained

Staff Reporter

Bid to submit memorandum to Prime Minister

NEW DELHI: Yamuna Satyagraha activists who tried to submit a memorandum demanding preservation of the Yamuna’s floodplains to the Prime Minister were detained by the police outside Vigyan Bhavan here on Tuesday.

The delegation of satyagrahis was on its way to submit the memorandum to Dr. Singh who had came to inaugurate the National Groundwater Congress.

“On a day when the Prime Minister was talking about the importance of groundwater, we wanted to apprise him of the problems being faced by Delhi where the Yamuna floodplains, which are an important groundwater recharge zone, are under threat,” said Diwan Singh who was detained along with nine other and later released.

On reaching Vigyan Bhavan, the Satyagrahis were stopped by the police and taken into custody. “Ours was a peaceful delegation, we requested the police to let us meet some administration officers so that we could submit our memorandum, but we were taken away. So we sang songs penned by the students for the protection of the Yamuna,” he said.

In a statement later in the day, the activists said: “It is nothing but paradoxical that on one hand the Government is talking of the importance of groundwater resources, while on the other it is destroying the largest source of groundwater – the Yamuna floodplains. We urge the Prime Minister to stop concretisation of the riverbed to protect the groundwater resource of this city.”

The satyagrahis said it was ironic that while the Delhi Government was investing crores of rupees for promotion of rainwater harvesting, a significant quantity of water was allowed to flow down the river and go as waste to the Bay of Bengal during the monsoon season, because it not allowed spread over the floodplains.

The campaigners alleged: “There seems to be a well designed subterfuge to keep the floodplains devoid of floodwaters. The rainwater harvesting potential of the city is not more than 100 MCM, whereas the floodwater harvesting potential is more than 1500 MCM annually.”

“The Groundwater Conference is aimed at promoting water literacy, evaluating the role of groundwater in national food and water security and promoting more crop and income per drop of water,” the satyagrahis said in their statement.

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