AOL event ‘completely destroyed’ Yamuna floodplains, NGT told

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) The ‘World Culture Festival’extravaganza organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living(AOL) on Yamuna has "completely destroyed" the riverbed, anexpert committee has told by the National Green Tribunal. "The committee observes that entire floodplain area usedfor the main event site i.e. between DND flyover and theBarapulla drain (on the right bank of river Yamuna) has beencompletely destroyed, not simply damaged. The ground is nowtotally levelled, compacted and hardened and is totally devoidof water bodies or depressions and almost completely devoid ofany vegetation. "The area where the grand stage was erected (and the areaimmediately behind it) is heavily consolidated – most likelywith a different kind of external material used to level theground and compress it. Huge amount of earth and debris havebeen dumped to construct the ramps for access from the DNDflyover and from the two pontoon bridges across the Barapulladrain," the expert committee, set up by the NGT, told a benchheaded by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar. The tribunal had directed the seven-member expertcommittee headed by Shashi Shekhar, Secretary of Ministry ofWater Resources, and senior scientists and experts fromNational Environmental Engineering Research Institute, IIT,Delhi and other agencies to inspect the site of the WorldCulture Festival held in March this year. The committee, in its 47-page report, has said that dueto the three-day event, the floodplain has lost "almost allits natural vegetation" like trees, shrubs, tall grasses,aquatic vegetation including water hyacinth which provideshabitat to large number of animals, insects and mud-dwellingorganisms. "These organisms were rendered homeless, driven away byintense activity and many were consigned to graves under thedebris. This is invisible loss of biodiversity which cannot beeasily assessed and most may never be able to return. Far moresignificant changes are expected in the micro-organisms whichare critical to ecosystem functioning," it said. The report further states that construction of ramps androads, alteration of water bodies and flattening of the groundhas completely damaged the diversity of habitats. "The physical damage in the floodplain and its wetlandsinclude a change in topography which has a direct bearing onthe diversity of habitats. Construction of ramps and roads,filling up of water bodies and levelling of the groundtogether with compaction have almost completely eliminated thenatural physical features and the diversity of habitats," thereport said. PTI PKSARC