GURUGRAM: More than a year after the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) began a project to cordon off green belts to “protect” such areas, only fencing of a total length of 23 km has come up so far.
The authority planned to surround the green belts with fencing extending up to 300 kilometres but only managed to finish 8% of the work due to delays caused by three major factors, said the officials privy to the matter.
They cited the two pandemic lockdowns, the ban on civil projects over the high pollution levels in Gurgaon, and the transfer of a GMDA officer as the reasons for the delay. “We lost several months because of the Covid-19 second wave. After that, the GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) restrictions to curb pollution levels came into effect, including a ban on civil projects. By the time that got lifted, the third wave of the pandemic started, affecting the work again,” said Subhash Chander Yadav, additional CEO, urban environment division, GMDA.
Also, the transfer of the previous additional CEO, after which the post remained vacant for a few months, caused payment delays due to which the contractors stopped the work. However, after Yadav took over the position in October last year, the payment processes were completed, and work resumed.
According to the GMDA, the work has now been “streamlined” and is taking place at a fast pace. “There is potential for 300 kilometres of fencing around the green belts in the city, but we still have to determine how much more work is possible in the outskirts of Gurgaon, where people have not yet settled. But now our focus is to fence the green belts in the developed areas, for example, along the main roads in the city,” said Yadav. “After the fencing work, we will lay pipelines to bring recycled water to these green belts. The recycled water will help maintain the green belts so that they are always thriving,” he added.
In December 2020, the GMDA signed an agreement with three agencies for providing and fixing fencing around the green belts, medians and other areas maintained by the authority. The project will “protect” green areas from encroachment by street vendors and damage by stray animals and cattle, as well as prevent people from dumping garbage there.
On concerns about fencing impeding the movement of pedestrians and animals in the green areas in the city, GMDA officials said that the purpose of green belts is to reduce noise and dust pollution rather than enable the movement of people and animals. “The purpose of the green belts is to check noise and dust pollution caused by vehicular traffic so that residential areas are not affected by them. That is also why we are focusing on green belts along the roads,” said Yadav.
