Dear readers,

“My story is one of continuous love with nature, a story of love for water…The Aravari taught me to flow like water,” Dr Rajendra Singh poetically told us earlier this month, lamenting about how rivers in cities are being “murdered” by riverfront development projects across India. We set out to examine a few. It turns out that the renowned water conservationist had a point. The large-scale projects, often costing thousands of crores of public funds—16 projects cost a total of Rs 37,831 crores, shows our analysis—are more about real estate, leisure avenues, beautification, and displacement of people, and less about the ecological integrity of the river and restoration of its ecosystem. In city after city, project after project, it was the same.  Question of Cities firmly believes a rethink is in order.

The edition opens with an in-depth interview with Dr Rajendra Singh, who lets us into his journey and concerns, including India’s current obsession with riverfront development. “The riverfront development is nothing but the murder of rivers, it’s turning rivers into drains,” says Singh, who has revived several rivers in Rajasthan and improved the lives of villagers, making women-led community work a part of his approach. Development that is free from displacement, distraction and disaster is sustainable development or Sanatan Vikas, he tells Team QoC. Read it here.

The Pune riverfront development will turn the Mula-Mutha from a flowing water body into a canal to transport partially-treated sewage and solid waste downstream, disturb its biodiversity, and kill most of its 44.4 kilometres. Pune braces for more floods as the rivers are narrowed, concrete embankments constructed, and hundreds of trees felled. Importantly, there are questionable gaps between the project’s hydraulic study and the Water Resources Department’s figures, write indefatigable environmental activist Sarang Yadwadkar and Network Coordinator with Upper Bhima Collective‘Tara’ Tanmayi S. Read it here.

Amidst opposition, the Telangana government is going ahead with the Musi riverfront development project in Hyderabad. The cost of the first phase will be around Rs 7,000 crore and the total cost is estimated anywhere from Rs 56,000 crore to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The mega project is likely to displace nearly 1.30 lakh people from slums as well as gated housing complexes; demolitions started even before the Detailed Project Report could be unveiled. This has led to protests by communities, demanding transparency and zero displacements, writes QoC Associate Editor Shobha Surin from Hyderabad. Read it here.

Real estate over ecological restoration, multiplicity of agencies, and Kumbh Mela-driven deadlines are three faultlines of Nashik’s Godavari riverfront development, based on the Sabarmati model, writes Nashik-based multimedia journalist Naitri Kale. The Rs 2,800-crore Namami Goda project, that started with axing around 1,500 trees—and may fell thousands more by the time the city prepares for the 2027 Kumbh Mela—sidelines the Godavari’s heritage. Its future hangs between two approaches: hardscape engineering versus ecological restoration, she points out. Read it here.

All riverfront projects in India have largely followed a standardised template set in 2012 by the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, that centres an engineering-led approach, sewage treatment and beautification, ignoring the restoration of river ecology and human habitations along the river banks. The FactSheet by Team QoC examines how the model has been implemented, a map of 16 such projects across cities in India, the scale of public funds committed, its ecological and social consequences, and the growing resistance on the ground. Read it here.

In our regular section, News Digest, read about the hottest cities in India; how the LPG gas supply disruptions are affecting lives; India quietly abandons its bid to host COP33; and Tuvalu to host a special meeting before COP31summit.

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Thank you, 
Smruti
April 17, 2026