To revive Yamuna bank,eco park,recreational space planned by DDA

According to a senior DDA official,work has begun on the Golden Jubilee Park that is being developed over 650 acres on the western bank of the river,encompassing the areas behind Rajghat between the Old Railway Bridge and ITO. The DDA has allocated Rs 6.4 crore for the first phase,which will include recreational zones with a children’s play area,maintained and landscaped greens,pedestrian walkways and cycling tracks.

“A DDA team recently travelled to Goa to study the benefits of using bamboo for construction instead of concrete. Since the Yamuna bank is a sensitive no-construction zone,all construction in the Golden Jubilee Park will be environment-friendly. There will bamboo machaans,garden shacks,benches,and bridges among other structures. Work has begun on a small two-km stretch and will be extended through this year,” a senior DDA official said.

The work is being coordinated by the DDA’s landscape and horticulture department.

The biodiversity park on the eastern bank of the river will be developed in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE). The DDA has set aside a budget of Rs 5.10 crore in 2011-12 for phases I and II for the development and maintenance of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park. “The Lieutenant-Governor was seeking a solution to revitalise the Yamuna and had asked the CEMDE to come up with an action plan that is in keeping with the zonal plan of the area. The focus will be on facilitating the natural underground reservoir and creating a ecologically viable community of wetland plants that are native to a riverbank,” the DDA official added.

The plan for the biodiversity park includes planting native flora and fauna and grasses that will create a viable ecosystem on the banks of the river. “The flora and fauna,we expect,will lead to greater water recharge and retention and create effective underground water reservoirs on the banks,” the official added.