DDA plans to acquire, convert land allotted to Millenium Bus Depot, power plant into ecotourism spot

The yet-to-be finalised proposal for the area is an ‘ecotourism’ space. But the DDA is yet to figure out ways to deal with the fly ash remnants at the site.

Of the 30 hectares of land intended to be part of the floodplain restoration project, 13.35 hectares was allotted to the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (now the Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited) in 1985-86. Of the land that was allotted to IPGCL, around 7 hectares was further allotted to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for the Millennium Bus Depot, which was set up in 2010 prior to the Commonwealth Games. The depot was later shut since it was functioning on the floodplains. Structures that were part of the depot continue to stand at the site.

The IPGCL land is under consideration to be allotted permanently to the DDA, an official said. “Since the area was used to dump fly ash for a long time, a lot of leaching of the fly ash has taken place. One option is to treat it so that it becomes inert, though the details are yet to be worked out,” the official said.

A team from Jamia Millia Islamia is studying the area and recommending methods to handle the remaining fly ash to the DDA. Professor Gauhar Mehmood at the Department of Civil Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia, said heavy metals, including aluminium, cadmium, and lead, are present in the area, and the pH value was high at around 9.4. “The fly ash is still there, but it has been consolidated since it has been there for some time. If some activity is being done in the area, remedial measures will have to be taken. Research is still underway in some areas. A report was submitted to the DDA about a year ago,” he said.

Professor Mehmood said possible methods to neutralise the toxic elements include phytoremediation and the introduction of geomembranes. “If we create water bodies and introduce geomembranes, the configuration of these should be such that the toxic elements get neutralised, and there won’t be any effect on the river. The dilution of the toxic elements can ensure that it does not contaminate the groundwater and the river,” he said. Geomembranes are used to control the flow of leachate, while phytoremediation involves the use of plants to remove pollutants.

At the site, the DDA had plans to set up a ‘river museum’ and ‘oceanarium’ that would provide details on the river and its restoration. Revenue from this could be used to maintain the other floodplain areas, and the land was beyond the 1 in the 25-year floodplain of the river, the DDA had earlier informed the Principal Committee constituted on the orders of the NGT to monitor work on the floodplains.

The estimated cost of the project was to be around Rs 86.73 crore. But at a meeting last year, members of the committee had asked for a detailed proposal to be submitted and noted that the proposed activities would have to be examined.

The DDA official said, “The proposal is not complete, but it might be used to meet the requirements we might have for eco-friendly structures to bring people in and introduce them to the project.”