Blitz Bureau
The Yamuna cleaning work, which dominated the headlines in the run-up to Delhi polls, began on February 16. The action follows a meeting between Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the Chief Secretarywhere an immediate directive was issued to clean the river A three-year timeline to clean the river has been set. “To begin with, the trash, garbage and silt in the Yamuna River stream will be removed.
Simultaneously cleaning operations in the Najafgarh drain, Supplementary drain, and all other major drains will start,” according to the statement from the Lieutenant Governor’s office.
“The execution of this ambitious plan that targets cleaning the river in about three years will require seamless coordination between various agencies and departments that include DJB (Delhi Jal Board), I&FC (Irrigation and Flood Control Department), MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi), Environment Department, PWD (Public Works Department) and DDA (Delhi Development Authority),” the statement read.
There will be weekly monitoring of the cleaning progress, and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been instructed to ensure that industrial units in the city do not discharge dirty water into the drains. “Monitoring of the abovementioned works will be done at the highest level on a weekly basis. In addition to this, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been directed to keep a strict vigil on the discharge of untreated effluent into the drains by Industrial Units in the city,” the statement added.
Cleaning the Yamuna, which has repeatedly seen toxic foam spewing from certain areas, has been a promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before they won the Delhi Assembly elections.
