Author: Nandhini Sundar
Publication: Swarajyamag.com
Date: March 31, 2016
URL:   http://swarajyamag.com/culture/world-culture-festival-a-taste-of-reality-and-the-true-picture

The much talked about World Culture Festival of Art Of Living (AOL) came and went. But comments continue.

There were many allegations of environmental damage, permanent damage to the floodplains, wilful use of official machinery and clearance issues. The organisers had of course taken up every charge levelled and given appropriate answers, giving true facts or clarifications. But how many of these saw the light of day is up for questioning.

Dumping of debris

For instance, the accusations of levelling of land, dumping of garbage and construction debris - the site when identified in December 2015 was already a massive dumping ground for debris that spread over 25 acres of land. This was brought to the notice of the DDA by the organisers immediately, along with pictures the site. On receiving permission from the DDA (letter dated 21 December 2015), the organisers proceeded to clear the debris, starting from 22 December (incidentally at their own cost). The massive diggers filmed, of clearing these debris, were interestingly portrayed as AOL’s work of dumping.

As for firming up the land to bear the weight of scaffoldings, AOL did not have to do it. The DDA, by its earlier neglect to forbid dumping of garbage and construction debris, had already created and offered an expanse of area where the mud was compressed and solid to withstand a temporary scaffolding structure. As for levelling the land, the floodplains were used for farming that requires a levelled land. The areas that were mildly levelled were done so with explicit permission from the environment ministry.

Removal of vegetation

Trees were claimed to have been cut indiscriminately to make way for construction. Sure, vegetation was cut, but they were weeds (prosopis juliflora) that reached up to a height of 10 to 14 feet. Though four trees were pruned marginally, not a single tree was cut.

Polluting Yamuna

The organisers were accused of blocking the Yamuna by dumping debris and polluting the river by releasing enzymes. The fact that 17 nalas empty into the Yamuna, polluting and letting a stench that fauna of any kind fails to venture close until the enzymes are released, reducing the pollutants and prompting birds and buffalos to take a dip, is of course, conveniently overlooked.

As for the claim of debris in the river, it is best to ignore the truth that these already existed, having been dumped by local people, some of whom also used it to create a passage for movement. Just for the record, during the ‘Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna’ campaign held in 2010, more than 512 tons of garbage and toxic material had been physically cleared by AOL volunteers.

Pucca roads

Again, no concrete roads or solid parking area was created, as alleged. Only temporary pathways for people to reach the venues were created, which incidentally, became extremely slushy and difficult to pass after the rains; an unquestionable proof of pure mud and zero presence of concrete.

Farmland issue

The organisers were accused of flattening standing crops to make way for parking. Vinay Sukhija, coordinator of the farmlands had this to say. “Farmlands were indeed taken for parking but these lands were either vacant or ones that had already yielded the produce. No land under cultivation or under long term yield crops was taken. These lands were taken after the UP Irrigation department gave us legal permission to use the land.”

He further added, “Most of these lands were under illegal cultivation prompting UP Irrigation Department to periodically remove the illegal cultivation as the lands are to be vacant according to their records. We still offered compensation to the poor farmers who were the actual tillers, paying them a rent of Rs 20,000 for two weeks against their actual market rate of 30,000 per year that they paid to their owners who had occupied the land illegally.”

Sukhija went a step further and asked, “If we have indeed ruined standing crop or taken up lands under active farming, why are the owners not filing an FIR and taking the matter to Court? Isn’t their lack of action clearly pointing to illegal occupation and false accusations that will not hold in a Court?”

Disposal of waste

Waste disposal certainly grabs headlines with catchy captions. The waste disposal, if not managed properly, bound to pollute the already intensely polluted Yamuna. A look at the facts should give the true picture. The programme venue, which was at a safe distance from the river as sanctioned by the authorities, hosted 650 portable bio-toilets that ensured none of the waste passed on to the river. The sewage was sucked through pumps, stored in suction tanks and disposed at designated locations of the STP as indicated by the Delhi Jal Board.

As for solid waste, about 1000 bins lined the location at various spots, with volunteers involved in the solid waste disposal involving an equal number. The solid waste was collected by them in Tata ace vehicles of (SPML/pompom) and again disposed of in designated places. As of 19 March, 10 tonnes of wet waste had been collected and sent to the Okhla compost plan and 28 truckloads of dry waste collected and sent to recycling units.

Hydro-Geologist gives clean chit

If doubts still prevail about environmental damage, the independent expert opinion of Hydro-Geologist Dr Lingaraju, former Director, Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Centre, former Director of Geomatics Centre of Water Resources Development Organization and former Professor and Research Lead at Global Academy of Technology, who has gone on record with his statement, should put concerns at rest.

Commenting on the environmental impact, Dr Lingaraju stated, “The Yamuna floodplain is vast, at more than 3000 sq km area just in Delhi. The event occurred in a minuscule part of this floodplain, with no impact on the natural system of the region. Whatever activity happened during the Festival was only for three evenings. Besides, no permanent or semi-permanent constructions were made, with whatever structures erected being removable. Whatever has been done will have no impact on the natural system like flow of water, recharging of ground water, and growth of natural vegetation cover.”

Dr Lingaraju further confirmed that no digging for foundation was done and concrete was not used. “A floating stage was used that had no impact on the ground. Agricultural land was used and hence there is no questioning of levelling for the event.”He also added “the event would bring no impact on seasonal changes.”

Record participation

Just for the record, the festival hosted over 37,000 artistes, both national and international, with over 65 performances of dance and music reflecting classical and folk cultures from India, and different parts of the world. Besides the hundreds of dignitaries within the country and across the world, the festival also hosted close to 2,000 international inter-faith leaders, that included representatives of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism to the Vatican.

Incidentally, the organisation of the mega festival was done purely by volunteers, many of whom took time off from their busy schedule or worked late into the night after their regular jobs to offer their services. Interestingly, the multitude of artistes who came from various corners of the country and abroad, could be seen enthusiastically braving the afternoon heat to do the rehearsals, while some of the performances happened in full gusto even amidst pouring rain.

A confluence of cultures

In short, it was a confluence of cultures, races, religions, an affirmation of unity in diversity, the recognition and endorsement of a one-world family. Needless to say, the world recognised, acknowledged, appreciated this message of love and peace, a call for unity and an end to violence.

River rejuvenation

A point worth noting here is the extensive involvement of the AOL in river rejuvenation projects, having revived and restored 16 waterbodies in the country; 11 in Maharashtra, 3 in Karnataka, one each in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This prompted the High Court of Karnataka in 2014 to direct the district administrations to replicate their project to rejuvenate waterbodies in the State. The recent Palar River in Tamil Nadu is a classic case where, along with the river rejuvenation, Narayana Vana, a herbal garden was created where 3000 tree saplings were planted in one month, with over 10,000 proposed to be added in the later months.

Comments from the PM

Because of the continued mudslinging the event had encountered Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented, “If we keep criticising ourselves, why would the world look at us?”

The world lauds

While various negative reports did their rounds, what was also significantly missed out was the invitation extended by the Australian Prime Minister to the Art of Living Founder, Sri Sri Ravishankar to host a similar culture festival in his country. Invitation also came forth from the British Prime Minister to Sri Sri to address the House of Commons during his next visit to the United Kingdom.

Sri Sri takes to twitter

Sri Sri Ravishankar had his final say on the Yamuna River when he turned to twitter on World Water Day to speak his mind. “I came to know there were 89 rivers in Tamil Nadu which now exist only in revenue records. Our team is searching for them”, he tweeted, adding in another tweet, pointedly, “We will very much love to work with the Centre and Delhi government to clean Yamuna.”

One thing is certainly clear. The World Culture Festival not only drew the attention of the world to unite cultures and work towards a one-world family, it also brought undivided attention to the state of our rivers, and definitely the pathetic condition of the river Yamuna. It is left now to the well-meaning public to take things from here, and turn matters, if indeed they are negative, to positive modes of action.