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.
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 reported 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.
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).
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