New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) The Centre's Yamuna river rejuvenation project in Delhi through forestry intervention has run into the hurdle of non-availability of land in the floodplains.

The Union Environment Ministry had in March released the detailed project reports prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) for the rejuvenation of 13 major rivers, including the Yamuna.

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The detailed project reports focus on protection, afforestation, catchment treatment, ecological restoration, moisture conservation, livelihood improvement, income generation, and ecotourism by developing riverfronts and eco-parks.

According to the central government, the activities proposed in the detailed project reports will help increase green cover, reduce soil erosion, recharge the water table and aid carbon dioxide sequestration, in addition to benefits in the form of non-timber forest produce.

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However, in Delhi, most of the land in the Yamuna floodplains upstream of the Wazirabad Barrage is privately owned. Acquiring this agricultural land for the Centre's project will not be easy, officials said.

Also, the Delhi government is eyeing this land for the creation of large pits to capture floodwater in the monsoon to recharge aquifers, to meet the increasing drinking water demand in the national capital.

A plan to create such pits on 1,000 acres of land is in the works and it can be expanded further if implemented successfully, according to officials in the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) owns the land in the Yamuna floodplains between the Wazirabad Barrage and the Okhla Barrage.

The agency said there is just 1,267 hectares of land available for development along this stretch of the river. Though the 22-km stretch is less than two per cent of the river length, it accounts for about 80 per cent of the pollution in the river.

Of this, 402 hectares has already been given for compensatory afforestation and plantation for different projects while 280 hectares is "under dispute" and the demarcation process is going on there.

The remaining 585 hectares of land has been pledged for the plantation of riverine grasses on the river banks as mandated by the National Green Tribunal; recreation for public use; development of depressions zones to catch floodwaters; eco-friendly kaccha pathways and public amenities and ecological plantation of riverine species, the agency said.

The land in the river floodplains downstream of the Okhla Barrage belongs to the DDA and the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department.

Officials in the DDA, a central government agency, have shown reluctance on the plan to hand the land over to the forest department for the implementation of the Centre's forestry intervention project.

Sources said it had been conveyed to the ICFRE around three years ago – when the work to prepare detailed project reports began -- that there is “no land available in the Yamuna floodplains in Delhi to carry out such a project”.

A source in the forest department said the plan is to strengthen soil and water conservation measures in forest areas of the riverscape and catchment area of the Yamuna by developing conservation ditches, contour trenches, contour bunds, earthen check dams, brushwood check dams, loose boulder check dams, ponds, and gully plugs, among others.

"But this can only be done if issues related to land availability are sorted out," the source said.

Earlier, the forest department had said around 9,000 hectares of land was available for the implementation of the forestry intervention project and compensatory afforestation for projects of national importance.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)