The Yamuna Gaffe.

Hello readers

Hope you all are doing well.

“What's the use of a fine house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
-Henry David Thoreau

All of us believe in some values in common, for instance you trust your family, you trust your best friend, you also believe in God for some it is Ram, for some Jesus for some Allah and so on.

In this world from time immortal we have different positions in the society to the class of priests, the pope, the fakir, the rishis and Pandits. We all consider them as divine and powerful in their intellect and the power to spread the message of God.

Many of our saints and religious leaders have done their duty in the purest form, which had helped this society to a greater extent. But we see some religious leaders have just turned this into a commercial venture and are minting money like any other multi-national company.

We seriously condemn such spiritual centres which use the faith of their devotees to get their break-even and also project the profit for the coming financial year!

Materialism in spirituality is baseless.

Nowadays it's becoming easy for the rich and powerful elements in India to destroy natural environment without any fear of law or anybody that governs and protects the natural environment.

Flood plains are rich in biodiversity and have a high degree of ecological importance. They help in rejuvenation of groundwater and prevent adverse damage caused in times of floods. Hampering the same would result in a serious environmental threat in the longer run, which we have already witnessed some of the disasters in Chennai and Uttarakhand.

Yamuna river flood plains in Delhi are important for the groundwater recharge and also an area with rich biodiversity. Recently there was a massive destruction of floodplains done and few environmentalists fear that it could have a permanent footprint. Art of Living (AOL) which conducted a three day cultural festival on the floodplains of Yamuna River had no sense of responsibility. They were absolutely unaware of the damage that they were causing. They were given the 1000 acre land for the construction work. This is the prime example of how one can use his power and money for any purpose without any fear of anyone.

 If the AOL was so cultural sided then they would have not chosen the place for their festival. They would have chosen some other place which was not having any environmental importance. There are many reasons why they exactly chose this place and not others. And we would recommend an enquiry about the same.

The land has been flattened and they have mercilessly destroyed the natural environment in the name of culture. 

At the first place the DDA should not have granted permission for the AOL to conduct this event. There is no doubt that the DDA would have been pressurised so that they had no other choice other than granting permission. And the NGT slapped a 5 crore as a penalty for reclaiming damages. What is the use of imposing heavy fines when these types of organisations have loads of money which is full throughout the year?

This issue has to be taken seriously. 

The honourable prime minister of India should have taken the decision not to allow this event happen at the cost of the great river Yamuna, but sadly it happened.

We seriously were not happy with the way the things were taken care of just before the programme was about to start like, you pay crores of rupees as fine and carry on with your event we feel that was illogical.

We appeal to the Government of India to be more serious and stringent while landing these types of issues going further and it should make sure that the AOL help sin rejuvenation of the place at least close to what it was before.

Living with hope.

Harish Murthy and Tejus R.S