Delhi L-G launches cleanliness drive on Yamuna floodplains

NEW DELHI: Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena on Thursday launched a cleanliness drive in the Yamuna floodplains at Qudsia Regulator to clean and rejuvenate the Yamuna river as mandated by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The L-G also inducted a company of the Territorial Army into the Yamuna cleaning operations in Delhi, who will ensure that the stretch of Yamuna floodplains that has been cleaned does not get encroached upon again.

The Territorial Army, provided by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), will take over the operations from Friday.

In the first phase of this drive, cleaning of the stretch of Yamuna from Qudsia Regulator to ITO will be taken up and later on, the Yamuna floodplains up to Okhla Barrage will be cleaned.

As part of the drive, garbage mounds and all illegal encroachment on the floodplains will be removed.

The agencies involved in the campaign will also introduce an innovative 'Drain BOD Reducing' technique under which pieces of stones and lime-stones will be put along the drains falling into the Yamuna at short distances.

These stone pieces will absorb the heavy particles, prevent it from falling into the river and oxidise the water, which in turn, will reduce the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) level of water at that particular point.

The trial of the "Drain BOD Reducing" technique is first being done on ISBT Drain and gradually, it will be replicated at other locations.

The agencies will also install floating boom and systems at the Qudsia Regulator floodplain to collect and remove the garbage from the river.

Speaking on the occasion, the L-G appealed to all stakeholders including the government agencies and the people to make concerted efforts to realise the dream of 'Clean Yamuna', which has been lying in a pathetic condition despite the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court and the NGT for the last nearly 3 decades.

He exuded confidence that with the people's support, "a sea change in the condition of Yamuna will be visible in the next six months".

L-G Saxena said a massive operation to trap the drains falling into Yamuna, desilting of trunk and peripheral sewer lines and upgradation of existing sewage treatment plants, was already underway following the decisions taken in the first meeting of the high level committee.

The L-G appreciated the sustained efforts made by various agencies, as a result of which a 17 km stretch of Najafgarh Drain, which is the biggest polluter of the Yamuna river, has been completely cleaned and 13 drains falling into it have been trapped totally.

This has resulted in the reduction of BOD levels by 30 per cent in just 5 months.

Saxena was accompanied by East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, President of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), Sunil Sethi and other senior officials.