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Dredging and concretisation work at Dahisar river halted, win for activists

After holding their ground for six hours, the forest department on Friday assured them that they would stop the work.

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The incomplete work near Dahisar river at SGNP
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Members of River March a citizen movement has raised strong objections to the alleged dredging of the Dahisar river bed being carried out as well as the ongoing work to build a concrete wall along the edges inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) forest area. 

It took six hours of holding their ground on Friday that the forest department assured them that they would stop the work. The group has also sent a notice to the forest department seeking an investigation as well as complete restoration of the river.

Gopal Jhaveri Founder of River March along with local BJP leaders Vikram Chogle and Vinod Seth who have been part of the River March movement rushed to SGNP on Friday noon after finding that work was being carried out on full scale. “There were number of dumpers, concrete mixers and JCB working and we were stunned to see that in the name of de-silting the river bed had been dredged and concrete walls of one meter thickness were being constructed in haste without any master plan or design despite assurances by State government that there will be no concretisation in the river,” Jhaveri said adding that given the fact that forest department swiftly stopped the work after they raised hue and cry has raised their suspicions all the more over the work. 

Chogle who called up forest officials to check about the work said that while they claimed that the work was being done to correct the course of the flow of the river and widen it but it was evident that they had not consulted any experts. “We are talking about a river and any work including dredging, de-silting or widening should be done after proper consultation with ecologists or river experts. Also it was surprising that they began the work when monsoon is knocking on the doors,” he said.

Environmentalist Stalin D said that putting concrete in the river is as good as killing the river. “The entire work is a matter of concern and on what basis was it sanctioned needs to be investigated,” he said. 

Urban Conservationist Vikram Pawar who is part of the River March movement also visited the site and said, “The approach taken by the forest department should have been to holistically study the entire catchment area and carry out analysis of the causes of flooding in 2017 along with experts in this field and then initiate work rather than simply deciding to build concrete banks and dredge it,” he said. 

Himanshu Thakkar of South Asian Network of Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) too raised questions about the concretisation being carried out and voiced for proper restoration of the river.

A senior SGNP official said that the work being carried out was for betterment of the river and it was planned after the flooding during heavy rains on August 29 that caused extensive damage to not only the park but also left several offices flooded. “The funds came in late and hence the work had to be initiated late. However since few citizens and experts along with them raised the issue we stopped the concretisation work and are restoring the bed too.” said the official.

 

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