Noida: Pontoon days gone, cement bridges now

In the last 15 years that saw Noida develop into a realty hub, this is the first time that a private individual has tried to build two bridges with cemented pipes, sand bags and excavator.

Locals said before 2000, when Noida was not a housing hub, liquor mafia used to build pontoon bridges with the help of floating boats. These bridges would be dismantled during rains.

But these cemented pipe bridges, which are being built with stones, will not be damaged easily and may last long, said officials of the district administration.

“Farmers also used to cross the river on pontoon bridges when the water level in the Yamuna is low. Smuggling of liquor from Haryana to Uttar Pradesh border areas using pontoon bridges was an easy task before 2000. But I am shocked to hear that big cemented pipes are being used to build bridges on the Yamuna. It is lawlessness at its peak,” said Ajeet Singh (55), a farmer who has filed a petition in the Allahabad high court against encroachments on the Yamuna floodplains.

On Saturday, 20 trucks of stones were being used for the padding of one of the bridges. Also, construction waste, sand bags, stone and ash bricks were being used for the construction.

The National Green Tribunal has banned throwing all kinds of construction waste, debris and stones in the river as it blocks the flow of water and damages floodplains that filters water before it reaches groundwater table.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, wondered how two bridges can be built without the involvement of local authorities, who have the responsibility of protecting the floodplains from all kinds of encroachments.

“What were Uttar Pradesh and Haryana irrigation department officials doing while the construction material was being transported for these bridges? Why are officials of the two states not demolishing construction material mixture plants, which are destroying the vast floodplains of the Yamuna in Noida and Faridabad,” said Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, a campaign to save the river.

Local also alleged that authorities have built bitumen roads on around 30 km floodplain area and several farmhouses have been built there.