The Sabarmati Riverfront is a story still unfolding that matches only with Singapore, while Yamuna in Delhi remains dead

Until 2005, washer men held forth on the banks of Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, washing and drying clothes of the big city, while slums dotted its floodplains, with garbage sprawling around to present a nauseating look to the visitors to Gujarat’s capital. The people covered their noses as they passed by the riverbanks of Sabarmati. The river was as dead in the city, as is Yamuna in the national capital. People in Ahmedabad faced long traffic jams, as the roads were clogged, because of massive encroachments of the floodplains and the adjoining public land. The scene filled one with despondency.

But by that time Narendra Modi had already chalked out the plan for the development of the Sabarmati Riverfront. The project would cost a total of Rs 1200 crores. The project would be a city level intervention, conceived and implemented as a pioneering multi-benefit project, with significant urban transformation potential to transform the historic, but neglected river Sabarmati into a vibrant urban space.

The vital focus was to return the river back to the citizens of Ahmedabad, and in the process also ensure that the city gains a major asset, which will improve the efficiency of its infrastructure and the quality of life. The aims also envisaged revitalizing the river, which in fact was carrying significant sewage flow and used as a dumping yard for disposal of garbage.

The project ensured that it would be financially self-sustainable, while entailing environmental improvement, along with cultural and social sustainability to transform the non-perennial river for better.

Now that Gujarat is hosting the 36th National Games at a short notice, the Paldi Sports Complex at the Sabarmati Riverfront is one of the sporting venues for the big sporting event. This turnaround is at a scale seen in Singapore only. The East Asian city-state is a major tourism destination. The city planner has aligned Singapore in such a way that a tourist would always see something new, thus finding something novel and innovative, which leaves the tourists with impressions that they should again come. This has been the model of Singapore for several decades. The city administrator will develop an amusement park and other attractions.

The Sabarmati Riverfront is on the same pattern. The visitors will always find that there is something new in line with the spirit of a lively city. This has been reflected in the development of green cover and Miyawaki plantation of 14.30 hectare of land on the banks of the Sabarmati River, which has seen over 23000 tree plantations in four public parks with a total area of 12.45 hectare, besides a biodiversity park of eight hectares.

Last month, over 100 Mayors and Deputy Mayors came visiting the Sabarmati Riverfront, and they were awed with the scale of development at the place. The urban administrations would be the next engine of the growth of the nation, and the mayors have to lead their corporations with innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the cities in the country. The leaders of the local bodies were thrilled as they walked on the Atal Bridge, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 27 this year. The bridge is now a major tourist attraction, and the people make a beeline to buy tickets to spend half an hour on the iconic place. This has not only boosted the tourism potential of Ahmedabad and Gujarat, but is also filling the coffers of the local municipal corporation to take up further development works, which would again scale up the attractions of the Sabarmati Riverfront.

This is not the end of the story, for it’s just the beginning, as the next phases of development of the Sabarmati Riverfront would give new wings to the lives of the people in Ahmedabad. The masterplan for ‘Riverfront Phase 2’ will encourage development that is in harmony with nature, with a combination of high, medium and low density zones, carefully planned amidst green and open spaces, besides the masterplan also proposing an efficient and integrated mobility network. But it must be noted that the overall development will be sensitive, sustainable and will aim to promote wellness and mindfulness of the city-dwellers.

In the next five years, when people would visit Ahmedabad and the Sabarmati Riverfront, they may see a Singapore rising there with a similar or grander energy of the people, driving the economy of the city and Gujarat to greater heights, while at the same time being in full harmony with nature, sticking firmly to sustainability and setting the example for urban renewal and development worth replication across the country.

Cities in India for ages have developed on the riversides. The developments of riverbanks will only ensure the renewal of the cities. There should be no second opinion about this aspect. This explains why Delhi is regressing. The city is dying. The people are depressed. The population of Delhi, in place of taking pride in living in the national capital, finds themselves stuck in match-boxes, struggling to breathe and walk.

In Delhi, the people can neither breathe nor walk, and they each year spend more and more money on their health expenses. Yamuna gave life to Delhi, and the river is now reduced to gutters. The ruling politicians in the national capital have fooled the people with promises of reviving the Yamuna River to only fatten their purses with the looted money. The people are now resigned to their fate that there could be no progress for better in their lives.

First, Sheila Dikshit, chief minister of Delhi from 2003 to 2015, sold false promises of cleaning Yamuna. She was succeeded by Arvind Kejriwal who has filled the people with so much skepticism that no one is now hoping that they would ever walk on the banks of Yamuna in the evenings as they do on the Sabarmati Riverfront. In 2015, Kejriwal sold the dream to the people in Delhi that he would transform Yamuna into the Thames River of London. In 2020, he presented a 10-point guarantee card in the Delhi Assembly that Yamuna would not only be cleaned but one could even start swimming in the waters!

Delhi Chief Minister had also claimed that he would reduce pollution in Yamuna by 90 per cent by 2023. We are just two months away from knocking the deadline, and the Yamuna in the national capital is exhaling foams of chemicals. The Centre also made available the funds to the extent of Rs 2419 crores. But there was no will on the part of the city government. To make a change in the lives of the people, the city administrators need vision, but the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party believes in making quick gains by the politics of freebies. Thus, Yamuna remains dead in Delhi, while Sabarmati flows in Ahmedabad with all the youthful energy.

Now that Delhi is approaching another winter, the people may be condemned to inhale the toxic air, for there is no sink to absorb the carbon and the pollution. The Yamuna Riverfront could have taken shape if there was a vision and will to change the lives of the people for the better.

(The author is Director, Public Policy Research Centre)