Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chairman and Water Minister Kapil Mishra conducted a three-hour fact-finding survey on the Yamuna on Wednesday.
Entering via the Boat Club near the Chandgi Ram Akhara, the delegation led by Mr. Mishra consisted of senior bureaucrats and representatives of all agency stakeholders such as DDA, DPCC, DSIDC and DJB amongst others and traversed the river’s length and breadth covering points from Wazirabad along with Signature Bridge to ITO.
In what happens to be the first river fact-finding survey conducted by any government in Delhi, the government claimed in a statement, the water quality was tested at numerous points by DJB engineers and chemists on multiple parameters.
“During this journey, multiple issues that were clearly seen like river-basin degradation, ecological pollution, contaminant effect on ecosystem and ecology, solid & liquid waste pollution and encroachment on the Yamuna River were seen and discussed,” said a senior government official.
Mr. Mishra said, “It is important that we restore Mother Yamuna to its true glory and position that she deserves. Today, in a first, the Arvind Kejriwal Government has ensured that officers and stakeholders don’t make their decisions or judgments whilst sitting in their offices and ivory towers, but rather come down to the River to make decisions for her beautification and rejuvenation.”
Positing that the water in the Yamuna was currently being polluted by 21 major drains and hundreds of smaller drains where untreated sewage and effluents were “flowing without any control”, the Najafgarh drain, which Mr. Mishra said was “the biggest polluter” needed immediate cleaning with a dedicated DJB team currently in the process of drafting a plan to clean it.
“We must remember that before we think about our Mother River Yamuna making a Thames or Danube: we have to first clean it with commitment. Our team at DJB has also collected various samples and performed water quality tests, which I will personally monitor,” Mr. Mishra added.
