’Cops threatened me for RTI plea’

Delhi-based lawyer claims he's being harassed by the police for targeting unauthorised encroachment on Yamuna river-bed in Jamia Nagar area

'Cops threatened me for RTI plea'

Delhi-based lawyer claims he's being harassed by the police for targeting unauthorised encroachment on Yamuna river-bed in Jamia Nagar area

Looking at the state it is in now, some believe it's already too late to save the Yamuna. But Jagbir Singh is not giving up. The 48-year-old lawyer has been actively involved with the Save the Yamuna campaign for the past 15 years.

Right to intimidate? The police has allegedly been threatening lawyer
Jagbir Singh for his RTI activism. Pic/Rajeev Tyagi

He played a key role to get an order from the High Court to stop illegal constructions on the river-bed. But now, Singh says he is facing trouble from the cops for filing Right to Information (RTI) pleas and Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against them.

"In the year 1993, the Delhi High Court ordered the removal of unauthorised encroachment from the river-bed but the authorities didn't take any action. Then I filed a writ petition in 1996 and the court ordered Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Delhi police to ensure that there will not be any construction within 300 metres of the river.

Justice JK Mehar and Justice Usha Mehra had separately ordered the DDA and the cops to ensure that the orders were complied with. The court had also asked for the land around the river-bed to be surveyed on a regular basis. But in October last year I saw that construction was going on the river-bed in Jamia Nagar area and I complained to the court regarding the same on October 6. I also reportedu00a0 the matter to the Additional CP of the area. I filed an RTI plea to find out about the action taken by cops," Jagbir Singh told MiD DAY.

All wet: File picture of waterlogging at the Commonwealth Games Village
near the Yamuna in east Delhi last year.

But his earnestness only invited trouble. Singh claims the Station House Officer (SHO) of Jamia Nagar, Satbeer Dagar, allegedly threatened him of dire consequences if he pursued the matter any further. "Last October, the Jamia SHO asked me not to file any complaints regarding the matter but I ignored. On February 7 at around 7pm I received a call from the SHO who started abusing me. He said that if I continued with my efforts against them, he would implicate me in false cases. I immediately called the PCR and complained about the SHO. I went to the senior police officers of the area on February 8," he said.

Singh says he didn't have an easy time. "The Additional Commissioner of Police (southeast) VS Chahal was busy that day, so I met the Additional DCP and complained about the Satbeer Dagar. Next day I met the Additional Commissioner but he forwarded the local matter to local vigilance department. I protested and said that the SHO was working under the very people who would investigate the case. So the matter must be forwarded to the vigilance headquarters or crime branch," Singh added.

Singh was asked to wait till the cops completed their inquiry. But the complainant didn't receive a positive response from the police. So he went to meet Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta.

"On February 28 I went to meet the Commissioner of Police. I was the fourth person waiting for him that day but when my turn came Gupta left his office to attend some meeting. Then I again went to meet him on March 1. I told him the whole situation but he didn't give me a proper hearing and said that the matter is in court. I tried to explain him that the matter in court is about illegal constructions and I was complaining about the threats from the SHO.

But he hardly paid any attention. Actually it's very clear by the order of the last Commissioner of Police YS Dadwal that the SHO of the area will be responsible for any such encroachment. But no one was ready to accept my point that Dagar is threatening me because he will be in trouble if my allegations are proved in court," Singh added.
Jagbir Singh filed an RTI on March 21 to find out about the action taken by cops after his complaints against the Jamia Nagar SHO.

When MiD DAY contacted them cops refused to comment on the issue saying it was related to a court's order. "The matter is investigated by the concerned department. We can't say anything more as the case is already in court," said a police officer.

Experts say there can be no leeway as far as the issue of river-bed encroachment is concerned. "Rivers are basically resource of water and climate change and excessive melting is happening. Water crisis is the biggest problem we are facing. River-bed should be untouched so discharge of water can happen unhindered. The illegal construction can cause huge floods. Pakistan faced floods last year just because of just this reason. We need to learn more lessons from such situations," said Sanjay Vashisht, Director, South Asia, Climate Action Network (CAN).

'Yamuna only filth and waste'
India's biggest challenge is to achieve economic growth while conserving forests and keeping its rivers clean, Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh said Monday. Speaking on the World Forestry Day, Ramesh said the pressure of the increasing population and work done in the name of development are harming the forests and rivers tremendously. "We have to achieve economic growth along with conserving forests and keeping our rivers clean. Our culture and traditions teach us to preserve our forests and natural resources," Ramesh told reporters here. Ramesh has been at loggerheads with various ministries for delaying several mining and infrastructure projects. "We must finish de-greening before we start green projects. The de-greening has been created by industrial construction," Ramesh said. The minister also urged schools, colleges and NGOs to support the government in the movement to conserve environment. Prizes were distributed to the winners of a painting competition organised on the theme of enviroment conservation. More than 100 students from Class 1 to Class 12 from 32 schools in the national capital region participated in this competition.

Know this?
Delhi contributes around 3,296 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage by virtue of drains falling in Yamuna. Some 3.5 lakh people live in the 62,000 jhuggis (slums) on the Yamuna river bed and its embankments.

Cops suspended
Three SHOs of different police stations had been suspended because of the encroachment on the river-bed in their area. In the year 1999 Dharamveer Joshi, SHO Srinivaspuri, was suspended. In 2008 SHO Jamia Nagar Mohammad Iqbal and SHO Jaitpur Jagdish Yadav shared the same fate.

Monsoon mayhem
Heavy rains wreaked havoc in the Capital last monsoon, affecting the last minute mad scramble to finish Commonwealth Games projects. The showers also brought along the usual problems of waterlogging and traffic
snarls. The water level in the Yamuna also went up alarmingly after Haryana released lakhs of cusecs of water. Thousands of people were sent to relief camps set up by the government. Several low-lying areas, including Jamia Nagar, were inundated. In the last 40 years, the city had witnessed floods in 1967, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1988, 1995, 1998 and of course 2010.

Bus stops here
In a fresh twist to the controversy surrounding the, the Delhi Development Authority said on March 9 that the DTC's millennium bus depot was built on land meant for "recreational purpose." In an affidavit filed in the Delhi high court in response to a PIL alleging the depot has been built on the Yamuna river bed, the DDA says that the "proposal of DTC bus depot on the western bank of river Yamuna isn't a part of planning proposal as per approved Zonal Development Plan for Zone 'O'. Proposed land use recommended under the plan is 'recreational.' "Saying the precise use of the recreational/green area will be determined by the layout plan, the omprehensive affidavit also says the matter regarding construction of the DTC bus depot pertains to the PWD, government of Delhi. The DDA response came after the HC issued it notice on the PIL filed by an NGO called Tapas, uestioning the wisdom of having a depot on the river bed. The PIL by Vinod Jain also pointed out how the depot has violated zonal laws of Delhi and while it was supposed to be a temporary structure just for the duration of the Commonwealth Games, the authorities have made it a permanent parking lot. However, the Delhi government has consistently defended the construction saying it doesn't encroach onto the river-bed. It also pointed out that there had been constructions on the same land even earlier.

In troubled waters
A sting operation conductedu00a0 by MiD DAY on December 27, 2010 (report published on Jan 6, 2011) in the basement of CWG Games Village revealed a huge crack and river water seeping in.u00a0 A day later, DDA admitted that there were waterlogging problems in the basements of the Games Village flats.