Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena launched the ‘Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan’ to be funded and implemented by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), an ambitious campaign for the development of urbanised villages of the national capital, officials said.
Saxena launched the campaign on Saturday from Jaunti village in north-west Delhi.
According to Raj Bhavan officials, the campaign will be funded and implemented by the DDA.
Under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the campaign has an earmarked amount of more than Rs 800 crore.
The officials said that to be utilised for creation or upgradation of basic infrastructure, livelihoods, scientific livestock management, healthcare, proper land use and water management, among others, the campaign aims at bringing about a qualitative change in the landscape and livelihood of the neglected and urbanised villages in the city.
An official said that the campaign was launched with commencement of works for Delhi’s first grazing ground in Jaunti village, on a seven-acre plot meant to provide fodder to nearly 4,000 livestock there and adjoining villages as well as providing the locality with an open green space free of encroachment.
A water body adjoining the grazing ground will also be cleaned, dredged, deepened and rejuvenated within a week, the official added.
The grazing ground will have a water channel on its periphery to ensure rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. Saplings of Moringa and nutritious grasses like Napier grass were also planted by the L-G on the grazing ground.
Speaking on the occasion, Saxena said that this first experiment with a grazing ground in the city will ensure that the stray cattle moving on roads, eating from garbage dumps and suffering due to malnutrition and accidents will get a proper ecosystem for their sustenance.
The L-G added that this ground will provide healthy food to the cattle that, in turn, will also provide healthy dairy products.
“At the same time, it would also prevent traffic chaos and road accidents due to presence of stray cattle on the roads,” he said.
Saxena also instructed that the land should be levelled properly so that even the animals would not have any problem in reaching to the grazing ground and the nearby pond.
He said that the Rs 800 crore fund for village development in Delhi, which was never utilised in the past years, will now be used for development of these villages.
“The fund has been transferred to the DDA, following the transfer of Gram Sabha Land as per extant regulations and policy decisions,” he added.
Saxena, who has adopted Jaunti village as one of the four villages for developing as model villages, said that the same effort would be made to make all villages self-sustainable and gave the example of neighbouring Qutabgarh village, where lot of infrastructure development projects are being undertaken and a stadium is on the verge of completion.
