The Delhi Development Authority has decided to withdraw the draft Yamuna River Zonal Plan dealing with 90 square kilometres of active flood plain of the river here. The Authority gave this assurance to a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rekha Sharma during the hearing of a bunch of public interest litigation petitions (PILs) opposing construction of concrete structures, including the Commonwealth Games Village, on the riverbed near the Akshardham Temple in East Delhi on the ground that it would hinder groundwater recharge and environment re-generation. Counsel for the DDA gave this assurance to the Court when the Bench observed that the Zonal Plan was in violation of the notification of the active flood plain permitting only those structures on the riverbed which do not hinder the groundwater re-charge and environment re-generation. The DDA has also in its Zonal Plan accepted the 90 square kilometres as active flood plain which also includes the land beyond the embankment where the Akshardham Temple stands. When the Bench asked the Authority why it did not accept the land on which the temple is built as part of the active flood plain despite the fact that it was notified in 2000 and the embankment was constructed in 2002, its counsel submitted that it would withdraw the Zonal Plan and bring a new one in its place. Referring to a report by NEERI, the DDA earlier in an affidavit had denied that the land on which the temple was built was part of the active flood plain as per the notification by the Central Ground Water Authority and written in the Zonal Plan.