Dry spell turns into opportunity: Sabarmati River cleaning drive makes progress

Almost 13 years after the Sabarmati Riverfront was inaugurated by the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2012, the 11.5 km-long stretch of the riverfront’s Phase 1, stretching from Vasna Barrage till Torrent power house, is undergoing cleaning for the second time, however, first time on such a large scale with public participation.Highlighting the significance of the project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hosted three heads of state on the Sabarmati Riverfront, Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2014, Japanese premier Late Shinzo Abe in 2017 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018.

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With other cities, including Pune and more recently Delhi planning to have their own riverfronts, even as Sabarmati which boasts to be the first riverfront in the country, the challenges concerning its maintenance and upkeep continue to pose a Herculean task before the administration. The stagnant riverfront will be expanded from 11.5 km to 38 km with the project being implemented in six phases. The Sabarmati Riverfront from Vasna Barrage till Chiloda Bridge near the thermal power plant in Gandhinagar, is set to run through districts of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.Due to pre-monsoon repair and maintenance work of gates at the Vasna Barrage, the Sabarmati Riverfront is running dry from May 12 till June 5. The barrage has around 30 gates and usually goes into pre-monsoon repair work annually.Also, as the work of construct-ing an earthen ramp in the upstream of Vasna Barrage is to be undertaken, the Sabarmati river is required to be completely emptied.

Utilising the moment as an ‘opportunity’, the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd (SRFDCL) — the city corporation's special purpose vehicle (SPV) launched in 1997 to execute the project — along with Anmedabad Municipal Corporation has launched a joint cleaning campaign.Sharing details, SRFDCL Chairman | P Gautam told The Indian Express, “We are taking advantage of the Irrigation Department's maintenance and repair work of Vasna Barrage gates till June 5.”On the first day of the clean-ing, a huge temple flag was seen being removed from the Sabarmati River. On the first day of the cleaning, a huge temple flag was seen being removed from the Sabarmati River.