22-km human chain planned to draw attention to sorry state of Yamuna

NEW DELHI: Citizens of Delhi-NCR are coming together to breathe life back into the ailing Yamuna.
A group of concerned citizens is rallying thousands of people to form a 22-kilometre human chain on the banks of the Yamuna on June 4 to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the sorry state of the river, which is plagued by pollution and degradation.

The chain will extend from Wazirabad to Okhla in Delhi, a 22-kilometre stretch that accounts for 75 per cent of the river’s pollution load. Twenty-two drains fall into the river in this stretch. This will probably be the biggest such effort to sensitise the people of Delhi and ensure their participation in cleaning the Yamuna, said the members of the “Yamuna Sansad”, a campaign launched by environmentalists, conservationists, academicians and researchers working to revive the river.

Experts say untapped waste water from unauthorised colonies and jhuggi-jhopri clusters, and the poor quality of the treated waste water discharged from sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) is the main reason behind the high pollution levels in the river.

The river can be considered fit for bathing if the biological oxygen demand is less than three milligram per litre and dissolved oxygen is greater than five milligram per litre. “At 6.30 am on June 4, a 22-kilometre-long human chain will be formed on the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi. Around one lakh people will stand hand in hand between Wazirabad and Kalindi, pledging to keep the river clean.

The purpose is to sensitise people to work in this direction,” said K N Govindacharya, former general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Yamuna Sansad. Ravishankar Tiwari, the coordinator of the Yamuna Sansad, said it will probably be the biggest campaign so far to sensitise the people of Delhi about the current state of the Yamuna.