As per the officials of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) irrigation department is responsible for cleaning Rispana and Bindal rivers. Chief medical health officer in MCD, Dr Kailash Joshi said, “As per the directions of the mayor, MCD deployed a team to clean the big and small drains in the city in addition to the Bindal and Rispana. The workers were regularly appointed in the areas. In my record the number of drains which have been cleaned this year before monsoon has never been done before.
Further, the main duty of cleaning these Rispana and Bindal rivers lies with the irrigation department.” It is pertinent to mention here that in cities, the rivers come under the purview of the irrigation department. Regarding the Bindal and Rispana rivers, the previous mayor Vinod Chamoli also had to approach the irrigation department repeatedly just to ascertain the actual breadth of the Rispana and Bindal rivers in order demarcate encroachments on riverside areas.
It now remains to be seen whether the irrigation department will take up the task of cleaning these rivers in Dehradun.