After environment row, President Pranab pulls out of Sri Sri's mega event

President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of the controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning this Friday.

“The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances,” an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Monday.

Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release ‘enzymes’ into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgment is expected on Tuesday.

The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.

“This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information,” the petition said.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival. 

Meanwhile, the decision to call in the Indian Army to build a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna was also criticised.

The development came even as there was criticism from some quarters, including the social media, about using army to build the floating bridge for such an event.

“Lakhs of people are expected to turn up. There is a question of law and order and also fears of stampede. Permission has been granted by concerned authorities to host the event. If a permission has been given, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is run smoothly,” highly placed defence sources said.

They said the organisers had approached the defence ministry seeking six such bridges but the army was asked to erect only one. A second bridge has been erected by the public works department.

“The Delhi Police has now given a report saying that there are fears of stampede and hence the army might build another bridge,” the sources said, adding that a minister from the Delhi government has also written to the ministry highlighting the need for such bridges.

The sources said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the defence secretary to look into the issue. During his interaction with the army, the force wondered whether their personnel should be used to help a “private event”.

“The minister was of the view that since permission has been granted, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything was fine. The army, which has the expertise, was asked to step in keeping the larger good of people in mind,” the sources said. 

They added that the army has been used during Kumbh Mela and even the Commonwealth Games.