Not Lacking For Effort, Delhi Has Spent Over ₹ 1,500cr, But Cleanup Battle Is Far From Won

An analysis done by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says Delhi has already spent over Rs 1,500 crore on cleaning the Yamuna, excluding the cost of the common effluent treatment plants built in the city.

- Priyangi.Agarwal

New Delhi: CSE says this is possibly the highest amount spent on river cleaning in the country, but it has not worked as is evident from pollution data.

CSE had analysed the data received from Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), which was launched to reduce the pollution load in the river with the first phase being started in 1993.

In 2005, the Rs 380-crore YAP-II was sanctioned for Delhi. About 50% of this was to be used to rehabilitate 30.2km of defunct sewers by 2008. In 2006-07, Delhi Jal Board introduced its interceptor plan to layover 60km of sewers along Najafgarh, supplementary and Shahdara drains.

“This massive hardware programme, however, has not proved effective in terms of controlling pollution. An analysis of biological oxygen demand (BOD) indicates that nothing has changed in terms of pollution load in the river,” said the CSE analysis, which added that BOD load had gone up from about 129 tonnes per day in 1982-83 to over 261 tonnes per day in 2019.