New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) In the run-up to the Yamuna Dialogues, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) organised the first Stakeholder Consultation Workshop to bring together national and international experts and institutions to share global and Indian best practices for Yamuna’s restoration.
The first-of-its-kind multi-stakeholder initiative, in line with the directions of Lieutenant Governor T.S. Sandhu, was organised by the DDA on Friday to shape a sustainable future for the floodplains.
The workshop brought together government institutions, policymakers, environmental experts, scientists, urban planners, landscape architects, technical institutions and other stakeholders to deliberate on the future of the Yamuna river corridor and identify practical, sustainable and science-based approaches for its long-term restoration and management, an official statement said.
The stakeholder consultation featured detailed discussions on two key themes — Floodplain-Responsive Planning and Ghat Development.
The deliberations focused on designing public infrastructure that works in harmony with the river’s natural flood cycles rather than against them, while also exploring environmentally compatible ghat typologies that integrate ecological, cultural, recreational, and religious functions, the statement said.
The workshop follows preliminary visits undertaken by the Lieutenant Governor to the Yamuna floodplains, and subsequent review meetings with senior officials of the DDA, during which he issued directions for tackling pollution in the river through a multi-dimensional approach, an official statement said.
Lieutenant Governor T.S. Sandhu, who is also the Chairperson of the DDA, emphasised that residents of Delhi, along with experts and other stakeholders, must be actively made partners in the river’s rejuvenation, so that the restoration of the Yamuna — especially its floodplains, evolves into a shared civic mission rather than a government-led exercise alone.
The L-G had said that the floodplains of the river were openly accessible to the people and their restoration and maintenance had to take into account the usage that they were being subjected to.
He had underlined that existing domestic and global best practices could serve as guiding benchmarks on the way forward.
The Yamuna Dialogues have been conceived by DDA as a collaborative platform to discuss nature-based solutions for floodplain management, explore innovative financing mechanisms for large-scale ecological infrastructure, and align ongoing efforts with climate resilience and urban sustainability frameworks.
The initiative seeks to facilitate knowledge exchange, strategic partnerships, and the identification of scalable solutions suited to the unique ecological and urban context of the Yamuna.
The Yamuna Dialogues will culminate in two major dialogue sessions, proposed to be held in September 2026 and January 2027, where the Delhi Yamuna Compact — a comprehensive roadmap outlining agreed priorities, implementation strategies, and timelines for the restoration of the Yamuna corridor — will be deliberated upon and finalised.
–IANS
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