NEW DELHI: Days ahead of the formation of the BJP government in Delhi, the cleaning of Yamuna started on Sunday based on a four-pronged strategy to free the river from heavy pollution in three years.
Raj Niwas officials said that the work on cleaning the Yamuna has begun with trash skimmers, weed harvesters and a dredger.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BJP's victory celebration at party headquarters on February 8 promised to make every effort for pollution-free Yamuna.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Saturday met the chief secretary and additional chief secretary (irrigation and flood control) and directed them to take up Yamuna cleaning work, the officials said.
A four-pronged strategy has been put in place to clean the Yamuna.
It involves removing trash and silt from the river stream and simultaneous cleaning operations in the Najafgarh drain, supplementary drain and other major drains, they said.
Further, the strategy involves daily monitoring of capacity and output of the existing sewage treatment plants, and a time-bound construction of new STPs and decentralised STPs to meet the actual shortfall of treating about 400 MGD of sewer.
"Execution of this ambitious plan that targets cleaning the river in about three years, will require seamless coordination between various agencies and departments including Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board, I&FC, environment department, public works department and Delhi Development Authority," said an official at the LG office.
"Monitoring of these works will be done in a weekly basis at the highest level. Besides, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been directed to keep strict vigil on the discharge of untreated effluent into the drains by industrial units," he said.
Earlier, an extensive project for Yamuna rejuvenation was taken up in mission mode in January 2023 under the National Green Tribunal (NGT) mandated high-level committee chaired by the LG.
The committee, however, after five meetings stopped functioning as the then AAP government in Delhi approached the Supreme Court challenging its formation. The top court stayed the NGT order for formation of the committee on July 10, 2023.
For a brief period when the committee was in existence, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) had started improving slightly on a month-on-month basis.
The BJP in its 'Viksit Delhi Sankalp Patra' for the assembly polls promised to set up a "Yamuna Kosh" to revitalise the river and develop a riverfront on its banks.
The party manifesto promised to expand sewage treatment capacity to 1,000 million gallons per day (MGD) and common effluent treatment plant capacity to 220 MLD.
The BJP stormed to power in Delhi after winning 48 of the 70 assembly seats in the February 5 elections.
The party's government is likely to be formed next week.
