(Feature Image: Entrance of flooded Asita East project site on Sept. 05, 2025. Credit: Surendar Solanki)

First the July 2023 and now the September 2025 flood spells in Yamuna has inundated and affected several of DDA’s beautification projects being developed on the Yamuna floodplain over past 8 years. These projects were earlier labelled as part of floodplain rejuvenation but now are being termed as riverfront projects. The violations of norms, ambiguity in progress, potential detrimental impacts on floodplain eco-system, vulnerability to flood damages make it necessary that DDA critically review the projects at this stage rather than continue to waste public money and damage to floodplain in an ad-hoc manner. A photo blog showing impact inf Sept. 2025 floods on these projects can be seen here.