Just 22km upstream from the Okhla barrage, the Yamuna is a different river. Upstream of Wazirabad in the north, it is a big, healthy river in which fish swim and to which birds come for water. Over the next 22km, it gets reduced to a giant sewer because of a number of reasons, the biggest being the city puking out tones of its refuse into the river.
We, however, look at a different aspect here — an aspect often overlooked in endless (and often insincere) debates on saving the Yamuna. It is pillage of the river sands, often so rapacious that the deep channels caused by mechanized illegal mining are leading to the Yamuna changing its course at certain places. If the process goes unchecked, the river might shift eastwards, triggering a disaster.
Just before the river reaches Wazirabad, at Palla village, where mining is rampant, the river has shifted, inundating land that was earlier being used for farming. This is well known and acknowledged by authorities on both side of the river, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. But neither take action under the garb of jurisdiction issues.
Activists say it’s not just petty matters of jurisdiction, but the fact that illegal sand mining is today a multi-crore business that has led to official inaction. The sand mafia carts away truckloads of sand daily that are sold to the construction companies. And it all happens in front of everyone’s eyes.
Huge machines are stationed at the edge of the river to dig out sand not only from the banks but also from within the river. In the Palla area, a temporary bank was recently created in the middle of the Yamuna to trap sand, effectively shifting its flow more towards the Delhi border and creating a small sand island in the middle of the river.
