Now Released: Please watch it here
About The Film
More than a hundred riverfront projects have already been planned in different Indian cities situated on rivers. These projects claim to transform riverbanks into recreational spaces for the public and to ‘beautify’ the urban rivers. The grim reality is, however, that these projects often become a vehicle to displace the communities living on the riverbanks and to destroy the social ecology of river. Rivers in India are dying but riverfronts do not help revitalise them. Riverfronts merely mask the degradation of river and urban environment while capturing the valuable urban space for elite usage.
Sabarmati river, a seasonal river that flows through Ahmedabad and where Gandhi had built his Ashram, is now famous for the riverfront that has been built on it. This film revisits the Sabarmati Riverfront Project where it all started.
Featuring: Beena Jadhav, Bharat Singh Jhala, Jay Narayan Vyas, Mudita Vidrohi, Navdeep Mathur, Nafeezbhai Allahwala, Neeta Mahadev, Sagar Rabari
People’s Resource Centre Team (Research and Production)
Filmed and Edited by Avikal
Research Support: Archana Singh, Nishant, Rajendra Ravi
In around 2000, TDP government under the disguise of eco-tourism allocated lands for commercial ventures around Hussainsagar lake. They violated CFE norms and made filthy surroundings.This is now addas for drug mafia and prostitutes. Also TDP started Nandanavanam project along Musi River. To provide lands on either-side of the river for commercial ventures but luckily they lost power. Now the present government wanted continue this — under the disguise of Sabarmati — and as a prelude they already completed the task around Durgam Cheruvu Lake. Here even though court has directed to demolish all illegal structures in the buffer zone and FTL. No action. They encouraged police to adopt two drinking water lakes. They presented big plan to create a round/fencing around the lake.– walking/cycliing tracks, etc. This will help resorts in around this to create addas for anti-social activities — drug mafia & prostitutes, etc. However, I convinced the police department to withdraw from the venture. They agreed. But government pushed irrigation department. Now they are doing the job. Already some started to build a castle in side the lake by killing the drinking water — with this the GO111/Supreme Court judgement will be dumped in to the lake and convert them in to lakhs of crores ventures. So, under the disguise of beatification, politicians wanted to mint money. Unfortunately MoEF&CC is ready to help such ventures as they get their share. This is not new to them even before 2004 TDP-BJP did the same and minted money. Even they pushed Shamshabad Airport in to GO111 by 2200 acreas and minted near one lakh crores. In these even NGOs are helping them by filing cases in NGT, a poor quality justice.
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy