Concretisation around trees needs to be sorted in Dwarka

The trees are getting damaged due to concretisation around its root in Dwarka. The issue was again raised after an incident which happened in Sector 6, where a tree fell due to concretisation. But within days, the issue was tackled where the tree was set upright with one JCB and two cranes.

Later, the residents raised their voices against more such trees in Dwarka that will get destroyed or will fall if concrete tiles are not removed immediately. For this, an online petition was moved by Dwarka residents which have been signed by 2,500 people till now, CitySpidey has been continuously writing about this matter.

Anil Kumar Parashar, Joint Secretary of Dwarka Forum and Head of Mission Clean and Green Dwarka said, “A couple of weeks back, the online petition regarding concrete trees was sent to the Chief Minister of Delhi and other authorities. The matter was forwarded to Environment Minister Gopal Rai. He informed that it was forwarded to the concerned officer. However, no further action was taken. The report is yet to be received.”

A similar incident was reported to CitySpidey on June 12, by Padma Jamwal, a resident of Shree Balaji Apartments in Sector 6. Two trees fell in front of PNB and HDFC banks due to concretisation around them. “We wrote about this issue on June 12 but sadly the situation remains the same,” said Padma.

She continued, “There was no progress, the trees are still in the same situation. But the trees are still alive and I am happy about it.”

Later, Padma informed Bhavreen Kandhari, an environmentalist. Bhavreen further made some complaints to the concerned authority. When CitySpidey spoke to Bhavreen, she said, “I will speak to them again and also visit the place.”

The trees are still lying on the ground for the past 18 days but they are still alive. 

CGHS federation demands more time to clean rainwater harvesting pits

 

For the past few weeks, residents of Dwarka have been distressed and have complained about the insensitive attitude of authorities time and again who keep imposing penalties and fines even in these difficult times of Covid. Recently, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) imposed a penalty on failure of producing certificates of cleaning the rain water harvesting pits by societies.

The societies were supposed to send certificates to the DJB by the end of May after cleaning the rain water harvesting pits, failing which, a penalty was imposed. Few societies were able to clean the pits but then a lockdown was imposed in Delhi in April and May. 

Most of  the societies could not get the pits cleaned. They have cited maintenance and control systems as reasons for not getting the work done.  Firstly, as there was a lockdown, labourers were not available for cleaning and maintenance. Secondly, the MC members themselves were reluctant to call the labourers.

“When the entire country is going through the second wave of the pandemic. and strict lockdown is imposed, there should not be any compulsion on cleaning and submitting it on or before May 31. Instead, since rains are approaching soon, it should be done before that to serve the purpose of these pits,’’ said Bishen Dev, a resident of Dwarka.

“Pending any clarification from DJB, we got our pit cleaned and submitted the required certificate to the DJB within the stipulated date i.e. May 31, to avoid any kind of penalty in future,” said BB Jain, another resident of Dwarka.

Another resident, Gopalan said, “Since others are hesitant, we now want the date of cleaning to be extended. How can the cleaning work be carried out during the lockdown? Our contractor also offered to give us a certificate (fake) which we refused. Why are we succumbing to this kind of unreasonable target set earlier by DJB? We should stand united and insist on extending the date in view of lockdown.’’

President of Mahalaxmi CGHS spoke with the Chief Engineer RWH Harish Chandra regarding an extension of the time limit but he said that though he understands the situation, he needs orders from the higher authority.

Sudha Sinha, president, Federation of CGHS Dwarka, too agreed and took up the issue directly with senior authorities. She said that the federation has written a letter to CM Arvind Kejriwal, CEO DJB, MLA Gulab Singh and Chief Engineer RWH.

“This is not a usual situation and we have written to all high authorities to extend the date of sending the certificate of cleaning of RWH pits. We have demanded an extension of further three months. During the lockdown there was no reason for imposition of penalty and we want assurance that the DJB should be considerate and understand the problem as we regularly pay our taxes, dues and comply with all the formalities and regulations as responsible citizens,” she added.

Sinha added, “She is expecting a positive response as she talked to the Chief Engineer who understands the situation and agrees that during lockdown, cleaning of pits was not feasible. He said that he is expecting orders for extension of time as soon as the matter is being considered at the higher level.”

Story of a nature enthusiast and birder

 

Dr. Jai Prabhan is a 68-year-old nature enthusiast and birder who visits the Dwarka waterbody in Sector 23 regularly. He is a pathologist and consultant by profession and a bird photographer by hobby. Prabhan’s journey as a birder started when his friends visited him and took him out to explore the birds of Jim Corbett and Nainital.

“We used to write down the descriptions of the birds we came across and discussed them in our meetings as there weren't many advancements in technology at that time. Today, we have the benefit of technology and with a click of our fingers, we can Google whichever bird we capture. We didn’t have this opportunity in our time,” said Prabhan when CitySpidey asked him about the start of his career as a birder.

He got his first camera with a 100 mm lens and started photographing birds seriously in 2007. He slowly transitioned from Kodak 100 mm to Canon 550 (Rebel). He now owns a telephoto lens attached to a Canon EOS R6.

“Bird photography is one of the most exciting career options but unfortunately there aren’t many opportunities for people who want to opt it as a profession. One first needs to seek financial stability  which will help them support their hobbies. It isn’t very lucrative,” he said.

Some benefits of bird photography as stated by Prabhan:

Bird photography helps you stay physically fit as you are supposed to be on your feet all the time. You might have to climb a tree and work out regularly to help your body stay in shape for the extreme conditions you might face during a shoot.

Being with nature gives you peace of mind. The process of nature photography is very harmonious. It makes you want to stay fit as one gets into a self-disciplinary lifestyle.

“I’m not a city man, I love the peace nature brings to me,” he ended with a laugh.

Eminent water activist visits Dwarka to see revival of water body

 

Umashankar Pandey, an eminent activist working on water conservation from Banda District, Uttar Pradesh recently visited Dwarka and met the water activists from the city. He was on a visit to Delhi and visited Dwarka to see how the water body at Sector 23 got revived by the community efforts.

He visited the water body at Sector 23 and interacted with Diwan Singh, the person who has been working on revival of water bodies in the area. He also met Ramesh Mumukshu, an RTI activist and Madhuri Varshney, a member of Rise Foundation an NGO. 

Umashankar Pandey shared his experience of work done in his area which was facing water scarcity. He said that the community is producing paddy now with the persistent efforts.

He shared, “We adopted traditional methods for water conservation in our agricultural land and in the last two decades, we were able to produce rice. The villages are now full of water. My village Jakhni has been declared as a role model village and termed as “Jalgram” by the government. I feel that we should work on our conventional model of water conservation.”

Water activist Diwan Singh, who has been making efforts for revival of water bodies in the area said, “We are happy that a water activist visited and saw our work. We must think seriously on water conservation. A community effort is the need of the hour and we should get involved as a community in it.”

Tree collapse common during rains in Dwarka

With the rains these days, Dwarka is facing problem of tree collapse all over again. It happens whenever there is a rain in the sub-city. Moreover, the authority is quite slow in clearing the collapsed trees and they continue to be lying in the ground.

With this, commuters face a lot of problems while travelling on the roads. One such tree can be seen on the footpath near Batuk Ji Apartments and National Apartments in Sector 3. The tree is lying on the master plan road.

Residents of the area said that the tree must be transplanted and removed from the place so that the footpath can be made safe and free for pedestrians. There are many other such kind of trees lying on the ground in the sub-city. They must be taken into concern by the civic bodies to do the needful.