Day: May 9, 2025

Yamuna Manthan 090525: Will we STOP Commercialization of River Floodplains?
Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 090525: Will we STOP Commercialization of River Floodplains?

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(Feature Image: Redstone stuctures at Vasudev Riverfront site on Yamuna. BS Rawat, SANDRP/ April 2025)

The rhetoric of Sabarmati type river front project for Yamuna in Delhi is getting louder. For over a decade, the DDA has already been working on 11 projects disguised as ‘floodplain restoration’. In recent past, none other than the NGT has flagged concerns over permanent structures and concretization work in some of these projects. Notably, all these cosmetic projects have suffered huge damages in the July 2023 floods.

Despite this, showing no regard to laws and sanctity of floodplains, DDA (Delhi Development Authority) has commercialized some of the projects including the Vasudev riverfront and the Baansera park. Since there is no autonomous body functioning in Delhi to hold the DDA accountable, every week there is news about a new riverfront or park project aiming at further commercializing the Yamuna floodplain.

Continue reading “Yamuna Manthan 090525: Will we STOP Commercialization of River Floodplains?” →
Odisha Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani Interview: Citizen Monitoring Key to Improve Riverbed Mining Governance
Sand Mining

Odisha Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani Interview: Citizen Monitoring Key to Improve Riverbed Mining Governance

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(Feature Image: Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani. Source: Facebook)

Advocate Sankar Prasad Pani is among some of the finest environmental lawyers in Odisha with knowledge about the effective legal remedies for addressing the adverse impacts of unsustainable and illegal riverbed mining. Over the past decade, Sankar Pani has argued in more than 50 cases in the eastern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The lawyer aims to bring transparency and improve governance in riverbed mining operations in Odisha and has secured remarkable decisions in some of the cases in 2024. In January 2025, the tribunal prohibited sand excavation in Mayurbhanj district following Pani’s intervention. In this interview with the lawyer Sankar Pani, Bhim Singh Rawat of SANDRP focuses on the basics of legal mechanisms and impact as well as limitations of available legal tools concerning the governance of finite natural resource like sand.

Continue reading “Odisha Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani Interview: Citizen Monitoring Key to Improve Riverbed Mining Governance” →