Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Raising a stink: Delhi’s Raota village sinks under wastewater -Ishan Kukreti

Raising a stink: Delhi’s Raota village sinks under wastewater -Ishan Kukreti

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Sep 24, 2020   modified Modified on Sep 27, 2020

-Down to Earth

A village in outer Delhi is sinking in wastewater overflowing from the Najafgarh drain. That’s because of construction over a wetland, which has blocked the natural water channels. Extreme rainfall has worsened the crisis

If you wished to enter Raota village, on the Delhi-Haryana border in the national capital’s southwest district, you would have to wade through knee-deep wastewater.

Roads there resembled a sewer; people used boats to commute. Wastewater entered almost every house. There was not a single patch of dry land visible and the rice farms looked like underwater weeds.

Officially, Raota is part of Delhi; but the village looks nothing like the rest of the capital — no clean drinking water, electricity or street lights.

For the past 15 years, this village has been inundated with wastewater from the Najafgarh drain (erstwhile, the Sahibi river) which separates the two states. The drain gets wastewater from residential colonies and industries in Gurugram. A study by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment in 2005 found that about 50 per cent of Gurugram’s sewage finds its way into this drain.

When there is heavy rainfall — like during this year — it exacerbates the crisis. When Down To Earth (DTE) visited Raota on August 27, 2020, more than 283 hectares (2.83 square kilometres) of farmlands, roads and empty plots were submerged in wastewater.

Experts say the flooding is due to unregulated construction activities over the Najafgarh wetland, where the Najafgarh drain empties. This has shrunk the size of the wetland — from 220 sq km before Independence to a mere 7 sq km today.

A report by the National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, says the built-up area in the Haryana sub-region of National Capital Region increased by 38,032 ha between 1999 and 2012. In the same period, the area of wetland plummeted by 17,539 ha.

“Earlier, wastewater would recede after the monsoon. Now it stays throughout the year,” said Suraj Mal, a 96-year-old resident of the village.

Please click here to read more.


Down to Earth, 24 September, 2020, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/Waste/raising-a-stink-delhi-s-raota-village-sinks-under-wastewater-73465


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close