SHRC orders expert panel to inspect Vishwamitri desilting work

While the VMC is desilting the 24-km stretch in the city limits, the Irrigation Department is carrying out the work in the 24-km downstream stretch from Maretha to Pingalwada. Both the departments have divided their respective areas of the river into smaller sections as the work is going on at multiple sites, given the race against time with monsoon approaching in June.

Prajapati, however, pointed out that while the SHRC order became public on April 9, VMC Commissioner Rana was transferred as per an order of the state government. Prajapati said, “The committee has been asked to visit the site once in 15 days, but given that the work is on at multiple places, we will have to visit one site per day to examine the work. The bigger issue is that the VMC Commissioner has been transferred and now the first meeting with the new commissioner will be delayed as it is obvious that the new officer would need time to understand the gravity of the subject.”

Prajapati added that since the SHRC has issued notice to multiple departments of the state, the onus must lie with the state to ensure that the Vishwamitri project is not compromised due to the transfer of the officer at a crucial juncture. He said, “We will need to work out the SOP with the new Municipal Commissioner. We have also requested the SHRC to make the State Secretary of the Irrigation Department a respondent in the case and it has been done. Right to life is a human rights issue and so the commission has the power to oversee the river project, which impacts people. Now with the transfer, it will be the state, which will have to address the issue of overseeing and implementation of the project.”

The SHRC was hearing a matter pertaining to the safety of the citizens of Vadodara and their properties in the city, which was “of utmost importance”. The SHRC had taken cognisance of a report in The Indian Express dated August 30, 2024, titled ‘Name Change, DPR and 14 years later, Vishwamitri revamp still on paper’, published following the devastating floods witnessed in Vadodara last year. The report highlighted that although the state government had announced a new project at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore to mitigate the floods in Vadodara city, the VMC and other authorities had delayed implementation of the Vishwamitri river project, first tabled in 2008, despite appointing multiple consultants and rechristening the project on two occasions in the past.

The next hearing is slated for May 1.