Environmentalist to move Supreme Court to save Agra ponds
VIJAY UPADHYAY
AGRA. When the Mughal emperors entered India, the first architectural change that they introduced in the country was the strategic placement of their residences and other important buildings around the multitude of water bodies present in Northern India in order to fight off the high temperatures of the Indian plains.
Historic evidence indicates the presence of over 100 such water bodies including ponds, moats and streams in the Mughal era Agra, which continued to remain in existence decades after the British rule ended but with the growing urbanization of this town, these water bodies have completely disappeared in just the past one decade.
With the Yamuna river dried out and the ponds being filled up, Agra has come close to a complete ecological disaster. Each year, underground water is becoming saline and the levels are dropping with the daytime temperature reaching the 50 degree mark. Now, to protect the environment of this town which had come close to being converted into a ghost town, a local environmentalist has launched a “Save the Agra Ponds” campaign. He is also filing contempt proceedings against the UP government in the Supreme Court for not being able to protect the ecology of the town.
Talking to the media persons in Agra, D.K. Joshi, Environmentalist and member of Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee on Pollution in Agra said that out of over 100 ponds and water bodies that had existed since times immemorial, only about 10 remain now, rest all have been replaced by concrete jungles.
Providing a list of these now-extinct ponds to the media persons, Mr. Joshi blamed the rising temperature of Agra to the absence of water bodies in the town which had always acted as moderators, preventing the daytime temperature from attaining such peaks.
He said that even the Mughal emperors and architects, with their primitive scientific knowledge, knew that the ponds and lakes were vital for lowering the environmental temperature while also maintaining the ground water levels, but in this modern age, the blind race for urbanization by the land mafias in the town has sidelined this knowledge passed on through generations.
He said that in the past five years alone, at least four large retention ponds of the town have been encroached by land mafias, in full knowledge of the Agra district authorities who were in fact cooperating with these builders in filling up these ancient ponds, conveniently ignoring the Supreme Court’s directives in the year 2000, against the filling up of urban ponds and their use for purposes other than water retention.
He said that the UP state revenue board had even directed the administrations of all districts of the state to ensure the compliance of the Supreme Court orders which included the demolition of any building constructed on land that was previously a water body.
He charged that despite this clear notification from the UP government, the remaining ponds in Agra were being continually filled up by the Agra Municipal Corporation to facilitate the land mafias. Citing a recent inquiry conducted by the Agra divisional commissioner on the complaints of the filling up of a pond by the municipal corporation, he said that the report clearly indicated that the pond had been filled up by the Municipal Corporation with urban waste but no action was taken to prevent the leveling of the pond and as a result, a large banquet hall stood in its place now.
According to Mr. Joshi, besides holding the runoff water after rains, the retention ponds also helped lower the temperature of their surrounding areas by at least 2-3 degrees while uplifting the underground water table at the same time. With the disappearance of these ponds and water bodies, the under ground water levels in Agra were dropping by more than six meters each year and the daytime temperature had come close to touching the 50 degree mark. Besides, in the absence of these ponds to retain the runoff rainwater, the people also faced serious problems of water logging in most of the city as a major part of the drainage system of the old city still pointed towards these now-extinct ponds.
Joshi said that to prevent this complete ecological disaster that could turn Agra into a ghost town in the absence of water, he had now decided to file a contempt case against all Agra district administrative officials that have served in the district since the year 2000, in the Supreme Court for ignoring the clear directives of the apex court against constructions on pond land.
Surprisingly, the Agra District Magistrate Sanjay Prasad feigned ignorance of the entire issue claiming that he was not aware that any water body had been encroached in Agra. Talking to The Pioneer, Mr. Prasad said that he had not received any complaints of construction on such land and if there indeed was any building found built on pond land, it shall be immediately demolished.
AGRA. When the Mughal emperors entered India, the first architectural change that they introduced in the country was the strategic placement of their residences and other important buildings around the multitude of water bodies present in Northern India in order to fight off the high temperatures of the Indian plains.
Historic evidence indicates the presence of over 100 such water bodies including ponds, moats and streams in the Mughal era Agra, which continued to remain in existence decades after the British rule ended but with the growing urbanization of this town, these water bodies have completely disappeared in just the past one decade.
With the Yamuna river dried out and the ponds being filled up, Agra has come close to a complete ecological disaster. Each year, underground water is becoming saline and the levels are dropping with the daytime temperature reaching the 50 degree mark. Now, to protect the environment of this town which had come close to being converted into a ghost town, a local environmentalist has launched a “Save the Agra Ponds” campaign. He is also filing contempt proceedings against the UP government in the Supreme Court for not being able to protect the ecology of the town.
Talking to the media persons in Agra, D.K. Joshi, Environmentalist and member of Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee on Pollution in Agra said that out of over 100 ponds and water bodies that had existed since times immemorial, only about 10 remain now, rest all have been replaced by concrete jungles.
Providing a list of these now-extinct ponds to the media persons, Mr. Joshi blamed the rising temperature of Agra to the absence of water bodies in the town which had always acted as moderators, preventing the daytime temperature from attaining such peaks.
He said that even the Mughal emperors and architects, with their primitive scientific knowledge, knew that the ponds and lakes were vital for lowering the environmental temperature while also maintaining the ground water levels, but in this modern age, the blind race for urbanization by the land mafias in the town has sidelined this knowledge passed on through generations.
He said that in the past five years alone, at least four large retention ponds of the town have been encroached by land mafias, in full knowledge of the Agra district authorities who were in fact cooperating with these builders in filling up these ancient ponds, conveniently ignoring the Supreme Court’s directives in the year 2000, against the filling up of urban ponds and their use for purposes other than water retention.
He said that the UP state revenue board had even directed the administrations of all districts of the state to ensure the compliance of the Supreme Court orders which included the demolition of any building constructed on land that was previously a water body.
He charged that despite this clear notification from the UP government, the remaining ponds in Agra were being continually filled up by the Agra Municipal Corporation to facilitate the land mafias. Citing a recent inquiry conducted by the Agra divisional commissioner on the complaints of the filling up of a pond by the municipal corporation, he said that the report clearly indicated that the pond had been filled up by the Municipal Corporation with urban waste but no action was taken to prevent the leveling of the pond and as a result, a large banquet hall stood in its place now.
According to Mr. Joshi, besides holding the runoff water after rains, the retention ponds also helped lower the temperature of their surrounding areas by at least 2-3 degrees while uplifting the underground water table at the same time. With the disappearance of these ponds and water bodies, the under ground water levels in Agra were dropping by more than six meters each year and the daytime temperature had come close to touching the 50 degree mark. Besides, in the absence of these ponds to retain the runoff rainwater, the people also faced serious problems of water logging in most of the city as a major part of the drainage system of the old city still pointed towards these now-extinct ponds.
Joshi said that to prevent this complete ecological disaster that could turn Agra into a ghost town in the absence of water, he had now decided to file a contempt case against all Agra district administrative officials that have served in the district since the year 2000, in the Supreme Court for ignoring the clear directives of the apex court against constructions on pond land.
Surprisingly, the Agra District Magistrate Sanjay Prasad feigned ignorance of the entire issue claiming that he was not aware that any water body had been encroached in Agra. Talking to The Pioneer, Mr. Prasad said that he had not received any complaints of construction on such land and if there indeed was any building found built on pond land, it shall be immediately demolished.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
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