‘Green’ Commonwealth Games?

When in November 2003, Delhi won the rights to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010; it was seen as an opportunity not only to project Delhi as a world class city but also to ‘renovate’ the capital, making it modern and aesthetically attractive. The revenue from the induced tourism promised handsome economic gains. It was thought that, incidental development of facilities could be later used by our ‘budding’ athletes.
In preparation for the Green Commonwealth Games, Delhi did take some steps towards ‘greening’ itself. The government took action in terms of relocating some polluting industries and introducing the Euro II and Euro III standards. It took off all those commercial vehicles from the roads that were more than 15 years old. It introduced CNG buses, three wheelers and taxis and tightened the restrictions on power plants.

However, now, less than a year away from the Games, while the doubts that the construction work will not be completed quite on time loom large, the promise of developing Delhi as a ‘green’ city seems far fetched too.
The very choice of the site of the games is questioned for its location being environmentally unsustainable and was made in spite of the sharp protests by institutions like National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the National Institute for Environmental Engineering (NEERI). The Commonwealth Games Village is being built on 118 acres of flood plains of the Yamuna. The 22 kms stretch of Yamuna is now merely a drain with a high-lying river bed. These floodplains help in recharging the ground water aquifers of the city – a city that is struggling to have more and more water for its ever-growing population. Also, Yamuna and its floodplains make up for nine percent of the green cover of the city, which is getting lost very quickly. Moreover, the river in this part of its course is known to be calm for 4-5 years after which it tends to flood. With the unpredictability of climate change, if and when the river floods, there will be no floodplain to take that water and the city itself will be inundated.

An ongoing protest, ‘Yamuna Satyagraha’ has been taken up by the environmentalists and people who care for the river and the city. However, the voices to “preserve bio-diversity and ecological integrity” are mostly falling on deaf ears.
While a river is dying a slow death, the authorities concerned remain stuck with their short-sighted and incomprehensive land-use and infrastructure development plans to sustainably develop the site and the city. With the rush to meet the deadlines, the infrastructure of the city is being developed at fast pace and erratically, so much so that, little attention is being paid to retaining the green cover at places where either a metro will run, a flyover will come up or a games venue spot will be constructed. Most of the trees are either cut or transplanted – neither helps very much.
When the Environment Department asked for “a green building technology, sustainable site planning, design and construction of buildings”, the Delhi Development Authority brought together a bunch of environmental engineers, planners and experts to put together a plan for the same. While doing so, what it missed out on that the very land where such building or residences are built or going to be built doesn’t fall under an ideal land use plan and pose a threat to balance of the ecosystem. The residential complex spread over 27 acres that will host 8500 athletes and officials for the 10-day duration, is built under a ‘public-private-partnership’ where the government is providing the land and a private real estate developer is constructing the apartments and yet another one is developing the transport infrastructure. All this is being done exactly on the same land that was considered ‘ecologically sensitive’ for more than four decades.
While the authorities continue to ‘green-wash’ with the claims that many new saplings will be planted all over the city and the games village, the horticulture department doubts that it can be done in such a short span of time. The construction work is way behind schedule which means that there is not much time to grow plants anyway. Some of the saplings are nurtured at the nurseries but the same can not be done for the entire city. That would leave much greening to be desired.

The hope to have a cleaner and greener Delhi still remains. What the Delhi Commonwealth Games promised to give to Delhi in terms of economic gains is heavily outweighed by the tremendous environmental and social costs. We certainly didn’t want to be in 2015 looking back at a city that was planned to be disturbed and ruined due to improper planning, inability to look at the bigger picture and above all, inability to respect nature and people. While most of the decisions made for the Commonwealth Games and for the development of Delhi are not arrived at through good research and more so, better envisioning, its also the lethargy in the implementation of some good plans on paper that will make this development painful in and for the long run.

Will this be yet another time in history, when Delhi will be challenged to resurrect itself?