Territorial army to be deployed to help clean Yamuna floodplains

This, they added, evidenced that the rejuvenation of the river, which had remained an “unfulfilled dream” despite persistent monitoring by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over the last 29 years, had finally begun in earnest.

The move follows the second meeting of the High Level Committee (HLC) on rejuvenation of river Yamuna constituted by the NGT on January 9 where Saxena, in his capacity as its Chairperson, reviewed the progress of work and the action taken report with regard to several activities.

These include the trapping of drains, desilting of sewers, status of sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs), redevelopment of Yamuna Floodplains and penal action against water polluting industries for violation, among others.

“The L-G was informed that since January 20, when the first HLC meeting was held, 13 sub-drains of Najafgarh drain have been completely trapped and 3.03 km of trunk/peripheral sewer lines has been completely desilted,” Raj Niwas stated.

“Further, inspections were conducted at 88 water polluting units after the first HLC meeting and water and power connection of 12 polluting units were disconnected and a penalty of Rs 53 lakh was imposed. During the meeting, ‘before and after’ videos of the works done were shown to the L-G,” it also stated.

Saxena told the agencies concerned to strictly adhere to the committed timelines and warned them against any laxity in executing these projects. “The L-G asked all agencies to make concerted efforts so as to bring about a drastic change in the water quality of Yamuna in the next six months,” Raj Niwas added.