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The Commonwealth Games village on the banks of the Yamuna in New Delhi continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons.
First, there was the entire games fiasco and now, according to the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, the Games village shouldn't have been there in the first place.
"If your question is did the Games Village get enviornmental clearance, yes the Commonwealth Games Village got environmental clearance, should it have got clearance, I don't think it should have, should Akshardham have got the nod, it should not have. We cannot demolish Akshardham, or the CWG Village, but we have to protect the remaining river bed," said, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Jairam Ramesh re-igniting the debate on whether construction on the Yamuna river bed should've been allowed, in particular the Akshardham temple and the 1200 crore rupee Commonwealth Games Village.
Ironically two expert appraisal committees including one set up by the Delhi High Court had said the Games Village should not be built on the Yamuna river bed. But the decision was turned over by the Supreme Court based on the precedent of Akshardham already built on the Yamuna bed.
"The fact is that this was done and it was illegal, and while we thank the minister for having the guts to speak out about this we want him to take action against other projects also flouting rules," said Manoj Mishra, Convenor Yamuna Abhiyan.
Environmentalists are also locked in a battle over this bus depot on the banks of the river.
It was allowed as a temporary structure during the games.
The DTC spent several crores on it and now shows no signs of dismantling it.
In fact if environmental laws were implemented strictly perhaps even the Commonwealth Games Village too would not have come up where it stands today. The question now is what will happen to other similar structures which continue to violate existing laws.