Pond turns concrete dumpyard

New Indian Express

09-05-2025

NEW DELHI: Despite the allocation of Rs 50 crore for the revival of the capital's water bodies, the depletion and misuse of these bodies remain as rampant as ever.
In West Delhi's Naraina village, residents say that a local pond has been systematically destroyed over more than a decade through unchecked construction activities, with full complicity and negligence of government authorities.
A recent petition filed in the Delhi High Court by the NGO Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment details a chronological degradation of the pond beginning in 2012, when it was fully water-filled and surrounded by clean, dry land. By 2024, the site had turned into a concrete dumping yard littered with construction debris. According to
Aditya Tanwar, one of the petitioners and a local resident, the Delhi Cantonment Board has begun constructing a paved road in the green areas beside the pond, despite the fact that the land belongs to the Public Works Department (PWD).
'In the course of constructing this road, they have cut multiple trees, and also dumped construction debris into whatever remains of the pond,' said Tanwar. Residents say that the pond has a long history of encroachment and misuse. In 2013, the Public Works Department (PWD) allocated part of the dry land to the Delhi Metro for a construction plant.
Over the years, various agencies, including the Defence Ministry and the Delhi Cantonment Board, allegedly carried out construction on or near the water body. Soil excavation, debris dumping, and unauthorised constructions like sewage sumps, porta cabins, and concrete roads steadily shrank the pond's area and depth.