New Delhi: With just three days to go, suspense mounted over the fate of the mega cultural event organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Foundation on the banks of the Yamuna.
The National Green Tribunal is asking tough questions, the event is facing a terror threat, and there is a question mark over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation because of security concerns.
Speculation raged Tuesday over whether Modi will inaugurate the event, a day after President Pranab Mukherjee pulled out of the event citing prior engagments.
That was because no security agency was ready to certify the stage out of fear that a major stampede is a possibility because of a poor evacuation plan. Agencies also feared that the river bed was not safe to accomodate a large gathering, which could total 35 lakh over three days.
Sources said the Home Ministry has directed Delhi Police to ensure peace during the event and to make sure that no stampede-like situation arises. This comes in the wake of inputs that 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorists have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat.
The event also came under fire from the National Green Tribunal(NGT) which is hearing petitions claiming that the event could cause irreparable damage to the Yamuna's ecosystem. The tribunal pulled up all government agencies, especially the Delhi Development Authority.
# NGT questioned DDA about the debris on the floodplains and asked if any DDA official visited the site.
# It asked all government agencies if they considered the impact the event could have on the environment.
# The tribunal questioned the Centre as to why no environmental clearance is required for erecting temporary structures.
# NGT also wanted to know who gave the permission to build the controversial pontoon bridge built by the Army.
Art of Living in its submission said it had taken the requisite permissions from all the authorities except from the police, which is subject to permission from the fire department.
AOL founder Sri Sri Ravishankar put up a brave face saying, "We have not violated any rules, and we are confident of getting all the clearances for the event.
Environmentalists claim that AOL levelled the 1000-acre marshland and sprayed insecticides, adversely affecting a variety of birds, insects and reptiles. "The natural habitat has been totally devastated. It's the biggest form of violence one can imagine," said Manoj Mishra, who is of the petitioners.
AOL replied that it did not cut any trees and that its volunteers cleared the place of 500 tonnes of garbage. Ravishankar even went on to say that his organisation will leave the place after building a biodiversity park.
All eyes are now on the NGT's verdict on Wednesday with environmentalists saying that most of the damage has already been done.
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