Yamuna action plan to be ready by June, focus on natural drains

Instead of large-scale projects, the plan will include decentralised solutions

The AAP government’s action plan will focus on every drain that falls into the Yamuna, including the smaller ones that enter the Najafgarh and supplementary drains. file photos

: This summer, the Delhi Jal Board is likely to come up with a comprehensive action plan to clean the Yamuna that will include decentralised sewage treatment plants and focus on storm-water drains.

Kapil Mishra, the chairperson of the DJB, told The Hindu that a detailed action plan will be made public by June. Mr. Mishra admitted that both the Centre and the Delhi government had spent huge sums of money over the years, but not much had changed.

Mr. Mishra had made an ambitious promise in June last year when he announced that he would take a dip in the Yamuna within three years, meaning that the water would be up to bathing standards.

Since then, the Delhi Jal Board has interacted with the public and experts on how the river can be saved.

“We have reached a stage now where our action plan for the next two years is almost ready. It will focus on each and every drain that falls into the Yamuna and the smaller ones that enter the Najafgarh and supplementary drains,” said Mr. Mishra.

Instead of large-scale projects, the plan will include decentralised solutions in the form of a group of projects. There will be separate plans for the natural drains, the main course of the river, the banks and for involving Delhiites.

According to a senior DJB official, the focus on the river’s water alone won’t be enough.

“We have to go for a holistic approach. The whole space where the water flows needs to be revived. We need to start with the drains, which have become dumping grounds for the population nearby,” said the official.

Just installing more sewage treatment plants won’t work, said the official, as solid waste from the slums and unauthorised colonies along the drains finds its way into the water.