Dravyavati River Project in Jaipur: Everything you need to know

Amanishah Nallah that has become a blot on Jaipur’s world class city image will soon turn into a beautiful river. If everything goes as planned, you will get a place more beautiful than even the Central Park.  Dravyavati River will become probably the most popular hangout place where you can spend quality time with your friends and family or enjoy a quiet jog by the riverside. While you may have been reading a lot about Dravyavati River Project in newspapers, here is a quick glance at what the project offers to the residents of Jaipur:

• Dravyawati was a 47 km long river stretched between the foothills of the Nahargarh Fort and the River Dhund. But fast gratification, encroachments and pollution degraded it into a drainage. People now call it Amanishah Nallah (nala). Due to water stagnating at several places, the river became out of bounds for the city residents.
• Rajasthan high court lambasted the state government for its failure to remove encroachments several times over the past few years. Nothing happened until JDA came up with a project to give the area a new lease of life on the instructions of the state government.
• The state government tasked a consortium of Tata Projects and Shanghai Urban Construction Group with not only turning the nullah into a river, but also developing the area by the riverside into a beautiful landscape.
• Taja Projects and Shanghai Urban Construction Group are now working on a Rs 1,676 crore project to restore the river by August 15, 2018.
• The companies are disposing of the garbage and debris currently piled up in the nallah.
• A total of 85 check dams will be constructed.
• A total of 122 fall structures will be set up to prevent soil erosion.
• A concrete wall be put up on both sides of the river.
• An ecological park will be developed on Sikar Road. It would attract wildlife specially migratory birds.
• Another park will be developed at Shipra Path. People will be able to enjoy many recreational activities such as camel ride, air theater, dance floor, yoga, walking tracks and water ponds.
• A park will be developed near Bambala Bridge.
• The width of the area including the river will up to 210 feet.
• Sewerage treatment plant, batch mix plant, office and store will be constructed at Kishanbagh, Sushilpura, Devri, Jhalana Chowd, near the Sanga Bridge at Sanganer, Bambala, Delawaas and Jirota.
• Seven sewage treatment plants would be set up to treat 170 MLD of sewage. The river bed and its banks would be landscaped and clean water will be used to recharge the river.
• The companies will construct more than 100 fall structures so that water flows in the river throughout the year. The river will never go dry.
• The companies will also plant 16,000 trees and develop 65,000 square meters green area under this project. This will make it a tourist destination.
• The depth of the river will be more than 1 metre.
• Floating gardens, town squares (for commercial activities), cultural plaza, fashion streets, eco parks, jogging parks, community gardens and nature tracks are some of the most prominent features of the project.
• A total of Rs 206 crore will be spent on its maintenance over 10 years after the project is completed.
• Around 180 acres of land will be transformed in terms of commercial development, as more and more real estate projects, MNCs, etc., will open up in the newly reclaimed places. More than 120 acres of land will be left for government use, according to the project report.

Dravyavati River is one of its kind project in the country as efforts are being made to restore a river from a “dry and arid landscape”. It will not only become an environment friendly tourist destination, but also prevent flooding of Jaipur City.

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