The Rispana and the Bindal rivers have degenerated into nullahs and the banks of these rivers have become garbage dumping zones due to the increasing encroachments and other activities on the riverbeds and banks.
When the officials concerned were asked about this they simply blamed other department officials for the anomalies. As per the Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari at Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) Uday Singh Rana, “Encroachment on these two river banks has become an old issue and it’s tough to resolve the issue permanently”. He added that regular checking drive is also
conducted by the MCD officials to remove the encroachments from the riverbeds and banks. He said that two days ago a checking drive was conducted by the MCD officials and encroachers were asked to evict the river bank. Recently under the supervision of some senior officials including the Principal Secretary, Urban Development, MH Khan, District Magistrate, BVRC Purushottam, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) vice chairman, R Meenakshi Sundaram and other MCD officials a checking drive was conducted to review the deteriorating sanitation level especially along these river banks.
Rana added that following the instruction of the MDDA VC, officials have already started working on the working plan to improve the sanitation level of Bindal and Rispana river banks. He said that the work is in progress and most probably the final working plan would be finalised in a couple of days. Officials have also nominated as nodal officers for ensuring sanitation work on the river banks in a phased manner.
When asked about the illegal construction and quarrying of building materials from riverbeds, Rana stated that the Irrigation Department is the sole authority responsible for acting against this as the MCD has no role to play in it. These riverbeds and banks are also transforming into a dumping ground and tonnes of garbage are regularly being dumped here but the MCD has yet to take any concrete action against it.
When asked about the measurement of the river width to facilitate marking of encroachments, he said that this can be ensured only by the State government. The work of regularising some of the slum areas located along the rivers is also pending, which too is a major problem faced in removal of encroachments.