New Delhi: While Delhi govt aims to revive the waterway that is now the Najafgarh drain and name it Sahibi river, Haryana govt is searching for the missing 11km stretch of the river that has rendered anything downstream of the Masani barrage in Rewari virtually a drain. Delhi’s irrigation & flood control department (IFC) had apprised the National Green Tribunal last year about the proposal to officially rename Najafgarh drain as the Sahibi “for generating people’s support for its rejuvenation’.After the river, which originates in Rajasthan, disappears downstream of the Masani barrage, from the Gurgaon border, there is only a dry creek, part of which is now privately owned, comprising drains from Gurgaon and Jhajjar. Once it enters Delhi, more untapped drains empty into, making Najafgarh drain one of the most polluted waterways in the capital.Haryana irrigation officials said that they were working to reclaim the river downstream of the Masani barrage. Two major drains, the Aurangpur Link Drain and Outfall Drain No. 8, have already been notified as the Sahibi river. “In Haryana, the situation is almost the same with respect to the lost 11km of the river, where the land is largely privately owned,” said an official. “However, the process is underway to demarcate the areas according to contour maps so that the occupied land can be identified and reacquired.“The official said the original course of the river terminated at the barrage, after which it was revived with water from canals and drains crossing the Sahibi creek. “We employ those drains to release additional water during the monsoon. Two such major drains, through which the waterway is revived before it enters Delhi through the Dhansa regulator, have already been renamed as Sahibi. The aim is to give it recognition while we work on the rest of the river.“In a report dated May 11, 2024, submitted to NGT, IFC referred to a document dating back to 1807 where Najafgarh Drain was called the Sahibi river. The department said that renaming the drain might evoke public sympathy and garner public support for its rejuvenation. “About whether the Najafgarh Drain was at any point in time known as the Sahibi river, it is submitted that the oldest record found in this regard traces back to the antique map of 1807 of the ‘Environs of Delhi’, which depicts the channel as Sabee Nullah,” the report said. “Whereas the map of the year 1885 depicts it as the canal of Najafgarh. Another map titled ‘Environs of Delhi’ in 1907 also termed it as the Najafgarh Canal. In the River Basin Atlas of India published by the Central Water Commission in 2012, for the Ganga basin, Sahibi is shown as one of the tributaries of the Yamuna river. However, as per the record available in the IFC department, the portion of this tributary from the Dhansa regulator to its outfall into the Yamuna river in Delhi is known as the Najafgarh Drain.”The report added, “On the Najafgarh Drain being renamed as the Sahibi river for generating people’s support for its rejuvenation, it is submitted that a proposal has already been initiated for obtaining approval from the State Names Authority for officially naming/renaming the Najafgarh Drain as the Sahibi river.” It added that for the rejuvenation, apart from the treatment of sewage and tapping of the sewers falling into it, IFC was already working on the removal of legacy silt and clearing of solid waste dumped without authorisation on the banks.According to a Delhi govt assessment, of the over 27 drains that meet the Yamuna, the Najafgarh drain’s sewage discharge rate was highest at 31-35 cubic metres per second, followed by the Shahdara Drain at 4-6 units. Earlier, in its budget for 2022-23, the previous AAP govt also addressed the drain as the Sahibi river while announcing a budget of Rs 705 crore to rejuvenate it. However, not much was done regarding the same by the then govt.A former govt official linked with the said project revealed, “The budget of Rs 750 sanctioned was for many other purposes, including developing road infrastructure, over bridges, sports facilities, urban transit, urban forests, beautification, etc. It largely remains unused.”Meanwhile, some officials in the Delhi and Haryana irrigation departments pointed out that rejuvenation downstream of the Masani Barrage was difficult as land could not be acquired during attempts made earlier. “From Masani barrage, for about 11km, there is no flow of water. Because of that, the land of the Sahibi creek till the boundary of Gurgaon district, belongs to private landowners. There is no land particularly marked as the Sahibi river in revenue records,” disclosed a Haryana irrigation official. “Due to the disappearance of the Sahibi downstream of the Barrage, the landowners started cultivating the land.”The Haryana irrigation department claims that the total stretch of land through which the Sahibi flowed earlier and is now owned by private landowners is around 350 acres. “Acquiring that land is a herculean task because the private landowners have refused verbally to provide the land at collector rates. Any decision regarding the acquisition of private land for the Sahibi’s rejuvenation may be taken only after the availability of water is ensured/secured,” the report said.
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