Delhi L-G, NGT chairman inspect cleaning efforts at Najafgarh drain

After the inspection, Justice Goel appreciated the efforts being undertaken and expressed hope that it would fetch desirable results in terms of reducing pollution in the Yamuna, as also the revival of the Sahibi River, where the drain once was.

Ruing the fact that persistent court monitoring and orders in the past had fetched little results in terms of cleaning the Najafgarh drain, Goel asked the L-G to ensure that the efforts being undertaken as of now, are taken to their logical conclusion in a time-bound manner.

Saxena on his part assured him that all the 122 feeder drains bringing sewage and silt into the Najafgarh drain will be trapped at the earliest and no stone will be left unturned to ensure that the drain gets rejuvenated into its original avatar of a river, and stops polluting the Yamuna, said officials.

The NGT chairperson was informed of works on cleaning and rejuvenation of the 57-km drain using the extremely cost-effective Partial Gravitational De-silting Technology and trapping of 32 feeder drains bringing in unfettered sewage and silt into it, in the first phase on the stretch between Timarpur and Bharat Nagar.

While the works of de-silting and restoration of embankments from Wazirabad to Timarpur had been completed by November end, further cleaning works on the 7.5 km stretch between Mall Road Bridge and Bharat Nagar too have been completed, said officials.

The drain over the decades has become one of the major sources of pollutants for the living water body. Apart from contributing maximum to the pollution of Yamuna, it poses a constant health hazard to the people living in its vicinity, other than causing water-logging in its catchment area due to its inability to carry water.

The drain has become an almost stagnant reservoir of silt sewerage and sludge with over 80 lakh tonnes of underwater solidified garbage/silt mounts, which has severely affected its flow and carrying capacity. Officials said more than 50,000 tonnes of silt was removed from the water body. In addition to this, 27,000 tonnes of surface garbage/silt, mainly accumulated on the outer periphery of the drain have also been removed and deposited on the banks, they added.

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