The indulgence in largesse that is the World Cultural Festival has been slapped with Rs five crore fine by the National Green Tribunal but the event has been allowed to go on. If the environmentalists are to be believed then the organisers of the festival have uprooted vegetation and ruined large patches of land to create the festival ground, which is located on the banks of the Yamuna river.
This is rumoured to be over 100 acres in area, with a stage that will be around seven acres big, large enough to hold thousands of musicians. The event is expected to draw in 35 lakh visitors. This will certainly generate massive amounts of garbage as well as create a ridiculously huge carbon footprint.
This is a very big festival, which also comes only a few months after India championed climate change procedures at a summit in Paris. The government’s assistance with the festival, by bringing in the army to build a pontoon bridge, a move previously unheard of, received a lot of flak from media and laymen across India. President Mukherjee even cancelled his scheduled appearance at the festival. There are still question marks over PM Modi’s visit there.
If there were so many violations found by the NGT, and the plans for this event were not disclosed to the authorities, as claimed by the tribunal, then there should have been sufficient grounds to put a hold on the staging of this festival until things are put in order. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, head of Art of Living, the organization behind the festival, claims that he should be applauded for staging the festival on the banks of one of India’s most polluted rivers. But, no amount of praise that hide the fact that this festival has caused more harm than help.
