The Art of Living has been accused of doing irreparable environmental damage to the Yamuna floodplains due to the World Culture Festival that it hosted in March 2016.
The Art of Living is a reputed organization with a proven track record in environment protection and care. We would like to state that much of what has been said with reference to damage of the Yamuna floodplains is concocted and without any logical or scientific basis.
Scientific evidence and data available with us makes us believe that an unbiased investigation will reveal the truth about the allegations and our contention of causing no damage to air, water and soil will be vindicated. Some of the points are:
1) A floodplain is defined by the survey of India. We have maps of 1986 that classify wetlands and raised land. The area where the World Culture Festival was held is not shown as a wetland in the map but rather as a flood plain.
The Art of Living would like to clarify that while such events are not allowed on wetlands, cultural events are allowed on a floodplain; like the Kumbh mela is always held on the floodplains.
2) An analysis of independent satellite images and maps of the site before and after the event clearly proves that the site had no water body before the event. This establishes that the allegations of The Art of Living tampering with water bodies and wetlands are baseless and concocted.
3) We have authenticated satellite images from April 2000 that shows that the DND flyway is complete, contractor road is made, and alongside the slope is the compacted road.
4) We have Spot Google Images which are authenticated with a stamp from 2000 up to 2016, before and after monsoon that clearly show this to be an agricultural land. This means, farmers leveled and ploughed the land. If farmers are farming here, then will they do it without leveling? Vegetables are being grown here since 2005.
5) We have satellite images from 2000 which show that the roads and the ramps already existed. These ramps and roads are now wrongly alleged to be made by us.
6) Images from 2003 show Malba (debris).
7) Images also show there was no biodiversity in this part of the floodplain given to The Art of Living. The arguments against us that we destroyed natural vegetation falls flat as there were no signs of the existence of the biodiversity in the first place. Plants and crops like gobi (cauliflower) and palak (spinach) were growing here. This was 10 years before we got there.
8) From images of 2006, an event was conducted here on this very floodplain for which two ramps were made. On what basis can someone accuse us of constructing this ramp?
9) The Art of Living had constructed a seven-acre floating stage with no compaction on the ground. This is based on the same principle as a person's body weight gets distributed when he sleeps on a bed of nails. The nails do not pierce the skin because weight is evenly distributed over 100s of nails.
A picture from 17 April of the core area where the stage actually stood shows that the grass has started growing again. That shows that the roots have not been touched and no damage done at all.
10) Further, on April 17, we have pictures of Australian and migratory birds, migratory ducks, buffalos and cows which were back on the WCF ground which was not the case before.
The world knows that the Yamuna and its floodplains have already been mercilessly ravaged well before the Art of Living appeared on the scene. The contamination in the Yamuna has long crossed the threshold not just for humans, but also aquatic life. The Yamuna has almost sunk to a pit with toxic levels which has severely affected not only the aquatic life, but also the birds that feed on them. We must all work together to bring Yamuna back to its original glory.
