Hindon riverfront plan gets new lease of life, consultant starts work

Noida: In a step towards developing the Hindon riverfront along the 22-km stretch in its jurisdiction up to Greater Noida, the Noida Authority on Monday said it has appointed a consultant for the project.
The consultant has started the survey work on the project and is expected to put in place a detailed project report (DPR) within a year. The project is aimed at giving a new lease of life to the Hindon and Yamuna rivers by making them more accessible for the public.
Officials said, the consultant was selected in April after a request for proposal for appointment of the agency was initiated."An amount of Rs 2.25 crore has been approved for the agency, which is a consortium of designers," said S C Gaur, chief architect planner, Noida Authority.
"The consultant is now working on a concept plan for the proposed project, which is likely to be ready by April 2017," he told TOI. "In September 2015, Central Water & Power Research Station, Pune had done the groundwork for the project," he said.
Gaur said the consultant would undertake studies of the course of the Hindon. "Land availability, identification of structure required for the project, and the feasibility report will be studied. The proposed DPR will also be put in place while a detailed hydraulic study will be carried out by the National Institute of Hydraulic Studies, Roorkee, which is part of IIT," he said.
The study will determine where the barrage should be created and the location of the green corridor across 5,036 hectares of Noida floodplain area. The project will be vetted by IIT-Delhi after the DPR.
"The objective of the riverfront development project is to deal with encroachment as well as to ensure a clean Hindon. Once developed, the corridor will also offer picnic spots to the general public," said Saumya Srivastava, deputy CEO (DCEO), Noida Authority. "The project involves developing recreational facilities like parks, yoga centres, picnic spots and sports centres without disrupting the natural flow of the Hindon and Yamuna," Gaur said.
In January this year, a seven-member team led by Srivastava returned from Gujarat after studying the Sabarmati riverfront development model.
"The aim of the proposed project is to rehabilitate the Hindon river and make it pollution-free, re-develop it, maintain it and also make it a source of livelihood for the city's poor," Srivastava said. "We have also put in place a special cell - River Front Development Cell - headed by a nodal officer. Besides the consultant, this cell will work in a time-bound manner for procuring virgin land along the River Front corridor so that no time is wasted in putting the project online," he said.