Even if the river boards have not come in place, other models could have been tried. Two of our states, Manipur and Rajasthan, have separate flood plain zoning laws. Why can’t Delhi have one? This question throws up many more. How can Delhi have a flood plain zoning law when at least one side of the Yamuna river bank has already been ‘constructed’ with no flood plain left to protect? How can legislative will to enact such a law be generated?

It is no surprise, then, that a model Flood Plain Zoning Bill, drafted and circulated to the states in 1974, and then again in 2000 by the Union government, has failed to elicit any response from the states. Notwithstanding this, there is no escaping the fact that the demarcated flood plain zones cannot be protected in the absence of a strong legal regime.

As conscious citizens, we have to keep asking for a river protection law even if the prospect of one seems distant! Meanwhile, given that we might be destined to lose the ‘sponge’ that can absorb excess flood waters, I wonder whether it may be better to shift focus to revamping flood forecasting and warning systems and learning to live with disasters rather than fight a losing battle on protecting the flood plains of a river-turned-sewer.

The writer is a Delhi-based lawyer who has worked recently with the World Meteorological Organization on protecting rivers