'Enough of this joke': NGT pulls up Delhi Jal Board over pollution in Yamuna

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal, on Monday, came down heavily on Delhi Jal Board (DJB) over the construction of a waste water treatment plant at Delhi Gate drain and summoned its engineer to explain why untreated water was still going into the Yamuna.

A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, also directed DJB to provide details of planned expenditure in the current fiscal with regard to the water and sewage sector.

“Why was the Delhi Gate drain not properly planned? You had assured us that not a single drop of untreated water will go into the Yamuna. Still 25 to 30 percent of waste water is going into the Yamuna. We will not allow you to waste public money like this. Enough of this joke,” the bench said, while monitoring the implementation of its ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Project’.

In order to keep the Yamuna river clean, DJB had last year started trial run of its newly constructed 15 MGD waste water treatment plant at Delhi Gate Nalla.

According to DJB, the plant, which is odourless and functions on clean fuel, has been constructed at a cost of Rs 204 crore. The waste water treatment plant aims to tap highly polluted water from Old Delhi areas.

The tribunal had earlier taken DJB to task for spending money on Yamuna without its permission and directed it not to spend a “single penny” on the rejuvenation of the river without its approval.

It had also directed DJB not to surrender the amount allocated to it in the last fiscal for rejuvenation of Yamuna to the Delhi government and asked it to spend the funds for implementation of its ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Project’.