JOIN USWith the proposal to develop Yamuna in Delhi on the lines of Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati rejected by both independent experts and Government officials, the future of the river has fallen into uncertainty again.
Though the Lieutenant Governor has promised steps like building an interceptor sewage system to catch over 80 per cent of the city’s sewage dumped into Yamuna, environmentalists are unsure of the timeframe within which such steps can materialise and rescue the river from further deterioration.
Manoj Mishra of the NGO Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan says, “Sadly, new plans and schemes are formulated for the river every consecutive year but either they are totally unsuitable to Yamuna or are executed in a faulty manner. The Yamuna Action Plans have been running for over 20 years and have seen an expenditure of over Rs 1500 crore without any benefit to Yamuna. The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Plan was anyway non-applicable in this case. The river ends up suffering in the absence of substantial plans.”
The LG has recently proposed a 59-km-long interceptor sewer along the supplementary Najafgarh and Shahdara drains, renovation of the interceptor sewer between Aruna Nagar slums and the outfall of Khyber Pass drain, and the Metcalf House, Qudsia, Mori Gate, Tonga Stand and Civil Military drains will be connected to the Ring Road trunk sewer.
The first step is expected to reduce pollution load by 70 per cent.There are also plans for capacity augmentation of sewage treatment plants (STPs). Sewers will be also be renovated to exploit the full 604 million gallons per day capacity of the STPs.
This is expected to take three years. One hundred and sixty three previously unconnected colonies will also be connected to the sewer system and this will cost the board Rs 25,000 crore.
Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, says, “These steps have been in the pipeline under different names for over a decade now. Money is being dumped down the drain and infrastructure also being created but there is no one to monitor their working.”
“The 22 odd STPs of Delhi have been working under capacity. There is no information in the public domain on how much sewage they are supposed to treat and they are not accountable to anyone. Till the time the Government starts to monitor such facilities, Yamuna will not be able to recover from the current situation.”