Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, after a decade of first clean-up attempts of Yamuna, divulged a major six-point plan to clean the Yamuna by February 2025. He made this announcement on Tuesday and also said that he will himself take a dip in the river before the next assembly elections.
The Yamuna has become a virtually dead river in Delhi. The major cause of pollution in the Yamuna is the 22 drains spewing sewage into it across a 22 km stretch in Delhi. The effluents from the illegal industries also end up in the river and make it more polluted. The river currently carries faecal matter and microbes from human and animal excreta. And that too beyond the prescribed level at all points.
The six-step plan announced by the state CM includes major new technologies such as setting up new sewage treatment plants, coming up with technologies to make sure that no pollutant goes into the river, working on increasing the capacity of sewage treatment plants (STP’s), in-situ treatments of the drains in the city and to divert the passage of the industrial waste into treatment plants and not the Yamuna.
The drains of the public toilets in the JJ clusters will be connected to the sewer networks so that the drain doesn’t get into the Yamuna and pollute the water bodies any further. It was also mentioned that the government plans to connect the sewer network of every household and make sure that no household waste flows into the drains and pollutes them. It said that the entire sewer network of Delhi is going to be cleaned and rehabilitated.
While addressing the press conference, Arvind Kejriwal made various important statements. He said the plan is a tall order and work has been going on a war footing. He also said that he’ll be monitoring the entire exercise himself on his level. Furthermore, he also highlighted that his government has made some fixed timelines. We are aiming to completely clean the Yamuna by February 2025. I will keep revisiting the progress of the plan every 15 to 30 days’’. After that, he tweeted, “I do what I say. I always deliver upon my promises. Will clean Yamuna before the next elections.”
Recently reported by Times of India, the stretch of the Yamuna is 22 km long starting from Wazirabad to Okhla and is rigorously polluted. The latest report by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee on the water quality based on the data from eight monitoring stations revealed that it does not meet the standards for Dissolved Oxygen and Biological Oxygen Demand. This makes the water body hazardous.
BOD which is Biological Oxygen Demand indicates the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose the organic matter. The higher BOD indicates that the amount of oxygen demanding species to feed on is very less. The DO, which is the amount of oxygen in the water, had failed to meet the criteria of 5 mg/ l and more at all the eight stations.
The Yamuna again came into focus around Chhath Puja, where people were seen to be performing their rituals in water-covered and filled with toxic foam all over. The CM then said that the current state of the water is the result of 70 years of pollution, and it can’t be cleaned in two days, and also assured that his government will clean the river.
“For this, work is going on to improve treatment and cleaning of the sewers on three fronts-building new sewer treatment plants such as the ones at Coronation Park, Okhla, Kondli, and Rithala, increasing the capacity of the treatment plants and lastly adopting new technologies for the treatment plants”, the CM emphasized.
He also mentioned that they will assure a 10:10 ratio of output after the treatment. He also took a strong dig at those industries which don’t send its effluent into the treatment plants and will be shut immediately by the authorities. Furthermore, he also announced that all households will be connected with the sewer under Mukhyamantri Sewer Connection Yojana.
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