The Delhi government plans to extend the Sonia Vihar embankment road from Wazirabad Road to Zero Pusta in the Yamuna floodplains to improve connectivity in trans-Yamuna areas and provide access to a proposed ferry service complex, even as environmental activists have raised concerns over the ecological impact of further infrastructure development in the already encroached floodplain.
The Irrigation and Flood Control Department has initiated the process of appointing consultants and surveyors to conduct a feasibility study for extending service roads along the embankment and finalising the alignment of an additional road along the existing left flood bund (Sonia Vihar), from Sonia Vihar Pusta to the Water Sports Club, officials said.
“The proposed road will connect the Nanaksar Gurudwara located near Wazirabad Road to the complex. “Delhi needs to learn lessons from its failures. We keep targeting floodplains with projects like riverfronts, flood walls and sewer lines, which harm the river ecosystem in the long run,” he added.
Additionally, the existing road leading from Sonia Vihar Pusta Road to the Water Sports Club (jetty) will also be improved,” a senior government official said. Bhim Singh Rawat, Yamuna activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), said that no further construction should be permitted in the Yamuna floodplains, which have already been encroached upon to a great extent.
