Soon, Delhi to get six new public spaces along the Yamuna. Here are the details

The total area under redevelopment in this stretch is 1,660 hectares. Of this, Asita East and West, Kalindi Aviral which includes the Baansera Park, Vasudev Ghat, Amrut Biodiversity Park, Yamuna Vatika near Rajghat have already been developed in a combined area of 740 hectares.

Of the new projects coming up, the one with the most public interface is expected to be the riverfront near Sarai Kale Khan, which is coming up at the site of the old Millennium Park Bus Depot.

But the city can also look forward to the Kalindi Biodiversity Park adjacent to the DND Flyway; the Mayur Nature Park near the Nizamuddin Bridge; and a new Eco-tourism area near Rajghat.

The biggest challenge for the DDA, however, is linking all 11 projects via walkways and cycle tracks.

“The projects are contiguous. The ultimate plan is to link all of them but it is very challenging, not only because several parts of the floodplain are encroached upon but also because other existing projects can come in the way of the linkage,” a senior government official said. “For now, we aim to complete all 11 projects. The linkage will be planned after.”

The changes, however, are not just aesthetic. The DDA has also taken tips from the existing biodiversity park at Wazirabad, and built depressions for the storage of water.

The agency has also taken care to plant trees and grasses native to the city and in some cases, native to a particular section of the stretch.

A DDA official familiar with the project said, “The biggest success of the project will be when the natural features that have been incorporated will withstand floods, as they do in sections of the river that run free. The grasses and the plants of the riverine ecology are very different from the plantation in the Ridge area. These plants will not survive in the floodplain.”

The DDA, meanwhile, is also serving eviction notices to residents who have been living on the floodplains along Mayur Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and in shanties near the DND Flyway.

Orders from the National Green Tribunal, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court have reiterated that no encroachment will be allowed on the floodplains.