Dirt and Debris: The Remains of Sri Sri’s World Culture Festival

The Art of Living Foundation has yet to make the Rs 5 crore payment to the Delhi Development Authority.

Workers sit on the stage of the World Culture Festival (Photo: Siddharth Safaya)

After paying an initial amount of Rs 25 lakh, the Art of Living Foundation has yet to complete the Rs 5 crore payment to the Delhi Development Authority for hosting an event on the Yamuna River Flood Plains, Rajeev Bansal, the lawyer for the DDA, told The Quint.

The payment was ordered by the National Green Tribunal days before the launch of the World Culture Festival, which drew around 5 lakh people from 11 to 13 March. Initially, the full amount was to be paid to the DDA before the event, but the NGT later ruled that the Art of Living Foundation had three weeks to pay the fine.

Most of the steel frame of the World Culture Festival stage still stands. (Photo: Manon Verchot)

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, head of the foundation, said Rs 5 crore will be paid as a “development fee,” not as a fine. His foundation has promised to clean the Yamuna floodplain and leave it more beautiful than before.

Environmentalists say the event, which cleared and leveled more than 1000 acres of land, is devastating for the fragile ecosystem on the banks of the Yamuna.

Representatives of Art of Living on the site in the week following the event said the 40-foot stage would take three to four weeks to dismantle. The Quint visited the site on Thursday to check on the clean-up progress. Almost three weeks have passed since the event and most of the stage is still standing.

Workers are gradually taking down the forty foot stage, which took several months to build. (Photo: Manon Verchot)

The Art of Living Foundation told the National Green Tribunal thats no metal had been stuck into the ground on the floodplain, but some pieces of metal can be seen protruding. (Photo: Siddharth Safaya)

Construction debris surrounds the stage. (Photo: Manon Verchot)

Sri Sri was expected to return to the site to keep an eye on the dismantling of the stage and clean-up process, but The Quint has been unable to confirm whether he has returned since 15 March.

The National Green Tribunal will hold hearings from 4 April to determine the extent of the damage caused by the World Culture Festival. The tribunal is expected to ask for further payments from the Art of Living Foundation.