NEW DELHI: Delhi may soon get a separate body to take up Yamuna cleaning, which has been a bone of contention for years, within a stipulated period of time.
It is learnt that the Rekha Gupta government will soon start working on modalities to set up the board to look after the ‘Yamuna cleaning project’ — one of the major poll promises of the new dispensation to address issues causing pollution in the river. The ‘Yamuna cleaning board’ will have senior officials as its members and directors.
PWD Minister Parvesh Verma has initiated steps to clean the Yamuna river in Delhi. Verma, who also holds the portfolio of irrigation & flood control, has inspected the Yamuna from Boat Club to Signature Bridge and ITO Chhath Ghat.
Verma had said all drains in the city would be connected to sewage treatment plants with enhanced capacities to prevent untreated wastewater from flowing into the river.
In February, the cleaning of Yamuna had started based on a four-pronged strategy to free the river from heavy pollution in three years. The work on cleaning the Yamuna had started with trash skimmers, weed harvesters and a dredger.
A project for the Yamuna rejuvenation was taken up in January 2023 under the National Green Tribunal-mandated committee chaired by the L-G.
The committee, however, after five meetings stopped functioning as the then AAP government moved Supreme Court challenging its formation. The top court stayed the NGT order for formation of the committee on July 10, 2023.