Rivers & Water Bodies | Water supply, consumption and pollution in cities

The Musi was, and is, Hyderabad’s heritage
and culture

The story of the Musi is woven with that of the city. It, historically, had a riverfront with grand palaces, shamshaan ghats, Sati mounds, dhobi ghats, slums, and held immense cultural and historical significance. Bathukamma, the flower festival, was celebrated…

‘We want the Musi cleaned but without displacing the people’

Once a lifeline of the city of Hyderabad, the Musi was home to thousands of people – mostly economically backward -- living…

The Musi – then and now

Cover photo: Musi River at Hyderabad/ Wikimedia Commons

Delhi owes the Yamuna an ecologically-sound river-led city plan

The deterioration and shrinking of the Yamuna in Delhi have worsened over the decades despite thousands of crores spent. Constructions on its…

‘The Yamuna is a living and breathing thing. We are systematically killing it’

Although India’s vision of a river was historically been influenced by the British, urban plans in contemporary India too do not have…

The Yamuna: Memoir of
a dying river

Nikeita Saraf, a Thane-based architect and urban practitioner, works as illustrator and writer with Question of Cities. Through her academic years…

‘The government got votes from here, now claims the settlement is illegal’

What happens when a river’s relationships with people closest to it are broken and all talk of the river is reduced to…

The relentless fighters who cycle, campaign and rally to save Yamuna

Pankaj Kumar quit his job to work 24x7 for a clean Yamuna. Vikrant Tongad decided he would not be a silent spectator to the pollution in the river. Manu Bhatnagar chalked out a water policy with nature-based solutions. Nishant Pawar…

How people power reclaimed the Vishwamitri for Vadodara

From building a coalition against the Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project to getting it scrapped – a rare success – people’s movements have…

‘The greatest threat to wetlands is, ironically,
government agencies’

In a landmark order in December 2024,[1] the Supreme Court directed every state to appoint its Wetland Authority, complete ground truthing, and…