People in Delhi are missing the popular boat ride at Purana Quila

It has now been over 100 days that the people of Delhi are missing out on the popular boat ride at Purana Quila. This is a popular tourist site and has remained closed all winter. The neighboring Delhi zoo is now open to the public, after having been kept out of bounds following a bird flu scare, but the boat club wears a sorry look with boats stacked together and the water body all dried up.
The Purana Quila lake sourced water from the Yamuna and through borewell and on average attracted 2,000-4,000 visitors daily. But, it has missed out on the annual high of footfall that is seen during the annual trade fair held at Pragati Maidan nearby and New Year. On those occasions, the footfall goes up to 7,000 on an average.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 22 January 2017.

The boating previously used to earn ₹ 6 lakh per month on an average and during the peak season it would go up to ₹ 9 lakh. Its monthly electricity bill to maintain the facility comes to around ₹ 45,000 and with 70 boats, it has assets worth ₹ 2 crore that is lying unused.
Incidentally, it is very popular with children who come during the summer and winter vacation and spend an entire day here. Children go to the Delhi Zoo nearby and then come for a boat ride which is a clean, affordable place for the middle class. The place helps children be close to nature and also out of harms way of malls.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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National Green Tribunal has refused to permit farmers to carry out cultivation on their farms located along the banks of the River Yamuna. This is because the waters are polluted with heavy metals and other high pollutants and these will affect the quality of the final vegetable.
People will buy these vegetables and fall sick after eating them.
This has been reported in deccanherald.com dated 16 November 2016.

NGT has commented that till such time Delhi Jal Board cleans, no permission will be given to carry out farming on the banks of the river. The observations came during the hearing of a plea filed by a local farmer who was seeking NGT’s nod for cultivation on the ground because the only source of his livelihood was farming.
NGT was firm that cultivation of edible crops and vegetables on the floodplains of Yamuna can be permitted only after Yamuna is restored and made pollution-free.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 11 October 2016.

The project is one of the priority projects of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and it is expected to cut down travel time between Wazirabad and Fatehpur Jat from 3.5 hours to just 45 minutes. Detailed project report for the 16 km Yamuna Taxi Project for operating tourist vessels / ferry services on Yamuna River from Wazirabad to Fatehpur Jat stretch was prepared by Kitco in September this year.
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