Almost one month after the World Culture Festival (WCF) event was held on the Yamuna floodplains, the work to dismantle seven-acre long stage is still not complete.
The Pioneer on Saturday visited the site to assess the progress of the clean-up operation and found that one third of the stage is yet to be dismantled with only 50 labours involved in the work that began on March 14, a day after the three-day mega extravaganza organised by the Art of living (AOl) had ended.
Initially, AOl authorities had claimed that it will take three weeks to dismantle the stage. However, the ground reality appears to be different. Commenting on the delay, labourers working on the site said the structure of the stage is complex and hence taking time and may take more time than expected.
Rohtas, a labour, told The Pioneer, “Temporary iron rods have been removed but main iron rods used to create foundation of the stage are yet to be dismantled.”
Another worker at the site said the use of iron rods in constructing the stage resulted in massive cleft in the floodplains. Also, the floodplains area away from the stage site was in bad condition. According to environmentalists, the levelling of the area for holding the event has had a debilitating impact on floodpains’ ecology.
Gopal Krishan, environmentalist and member of the Anti-Toxic Watch Alliance (ATWA), said it was an act of vandalism. “The event hosted in the eco sensitive zone was not done with an aim to develop the river flood area. AOl and environmentalists should work together so that the sensitivity of the floodpains is regained,” said Krishna.
A few days before the WCF event, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had asked AOl to pay a penalty of Rs 5 crore as interim compensation for the WCF’s impact on the environment.
In reply, Sri Sri had said, “I would like to clarify that the part payment was made to develop Yamuna and not as a part of fine imposed on us.”
Also, farmers across the Yamuna floodplains had objected to holding of the event on the spot.
“There is garbage everywhere. It’s in the fields and at the roadside. Sometimes, people from the civic agencies come and collect pile of garbage dumped on the site but that’s nothing as compared to the filth spread around,” said Dayaram, a farmer.
Despite several attempts, AOl team did not respond to the queries related to dismantling work.