5 min readNew DelhiJun 17, 2023 05:56 PM IST
First published on: Jun 14, 2023 at 05:00 AM IST
It’s a Catch-22 situation: The Indian Navy’s Barasingha, a boat roped in to help clean and dredge the Yamuna in the capital, is stuck in the same muck it was supposed to get rid of.
The boat, which was planned to be docked at the Delhi Boat Club at the Chandgi Ram Akhada near Civil Lines, was offloaded on the river’s banks near Signature Bridge three days ago. The vessel has, however, failed to set sail since this requires a uniform depth of 2 metres, which the Yamuna is unable to provide because of legacy waste and silt that has gathered in the water body over several years.
When The Indian Express spotted the boat on Tuesday, it was found docked at the river bank, with officials trying to find a solution to get it moving.
Sources said that the boat will not be able to start till the area around it is dredged for silt, adding that arrangements are being made for the same.
“The problem is that the boat needs a certain depth to be able to turn and manoeuvre. Yamuna, because of the silt and the waste that has been gathering on the river bed for years, is not even 2 metres deep at certain points, which is what the boat needs for mobility,” a source said.
Dredging the river has been a point of contention over the years with experts as well as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) expressing apprehension that giving permission for desilting will lead to indiscriminate mining.
L-G House officials said that the boat was requisitioned from the Indian Navy at Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s behest after a request by him, routed through Irrigation and Flood Control, and Tourism Departments, for such a vessel to clean the river channel was turned down by the then Delhi minister Manish Sisodia.
“The boat has been brought in to clean the Yamuna, monitor its rejuvenation and explore the possibility of utilising the clean channel as an inland waterway for transport,” said an L-G House official.
This is not the first time that the idea of dredging the river and using it as an inland waterway has been proposed.
In 2014, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, had said that his ministry was thinking of dredging the Yamuna and using the earth scooped out of the riverbed in the process for infrastructure projects. The idea to start a Water Taxi to ferry tourists from Wazirabad to Fatehpur Jat — a distance of 16 km — was also floated a couple of years later.
The cleaning of Yamuna in Delhi is closely monitored by the NGT, which has constituted a High-Level Committee, chaired by the L-G.
This is the second time that the armed forces have been made a part of the cause. Earlier, the territorial army was roped in to keep people from discarding religious refuse or garbage in the river.
Writeback
Responding to the report, officials in the Raj Niwas wrote: “The Navy Boat has been berthed in the Jetty created for it at Signature Bridge location as per original plan. It is not stuck. It is berthed there since the trailer that brought it could not have accessed any other suitable location on Yamuna. The boat was brought in to ascertain the navigability of Yamuna. It is once again reiterated that neither the boat was brought for dredging nor it is stuck in the mud. The boat was requisitioned from the Indian Navy at Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s behest after a request by him to acquire such boat, routed through Irrigation and Flood Control, and Tourism Departments, was turned down by the then Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. The boat has been brought to ascertain the navigability of the river and explore the possibility of utilising the clean channel as an inland waterway for transport, recreation and tourism. The boat in reference is a 11 meter work boat of Indian Navy that has been brought from Kochi by road mounted on a trailer. The boat commenced its journey on 25th May 23, 2023 and reached Delhi on June 3, 2023. The draft of the boat is 1.7 meter (minimum depth required). The Navy got its hydrographic survey team from Dehradun and Karwar which carried out survey during this interim period. The survey got completed by June 8, 2023 and revealed depth ranging from 0.9 meter to up to more than 4 meters. The stretches having depth less than 1.7 meter have been physically marked in river. Thereafter, local dredging equipment have been employed to create a suitable channel of required depth and is presently in progress. The dredging exercise is likely to be completed by June 20, 2023.”
The Indian Express responds
The Indian Navy boat, according to reliable sources, was supposed to be berthed at the Boat Club near Civil Lines after reaching Delhi. Because the area around it is not at least 1.7 metres deep uniformly, which as per L-G House officials is the draft of the boat, it has not been able to move. Sources said the dredging exercise is being carried out in the area to make sure that enough depth is created for the boat to sail safely.
Barasingha was offloaded on the river’s banks near Signature Bridge. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha ) 
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