Use of chemical boosted dissolved oxygen, reduced pollution: Official

Politics over Chhath Puja and the polluted Yamuna apart, officials carrying out the spraying of an anti-surfactant on the foam in the Yamuna- which has been the picture postcard of Chhath that the Capital sends out annually have vouched for the chemical's safety and efficacy.

- Kushagra Dixit & Siddhanta Mishra

Sanjay Sharma, director of Delhi Jal Board's quality control wing, was on Friday overseeing the froth control work being undertaken at Kalindi Kunj as recommended by the special committee of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

Largely due to untreated waste and effluent from detergent factories entering the river, and in the absence of dissolved oxygen, swathes of froth form on the Yamuna. Officials revealed that the de-foamer being sprayed at Kalindi Kunj was polyoxypropelene, which has been declared to be safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Defending the exercise, Sharma, who is seen in the viral video of his spat with Parvesh Verma, claimed that an on-site fish toxicity test and fish bioassay had been carried out to be "doubly sure".