'Save Yamuna' tempo gets loud

Extending support to the Yamuna Bachao Yatra activists, the opposition BJP on Sunday charged the Sheila Dikshit led Delhi government of ignoring river Yamuna.

Leader of opposition Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra alleged that the city government is responsible for ‘transforming river Yamuna into a drain in Delhi’.

“The total length of Yamuna is around 22 kilometres, which is just around 2 per cent of the total length of the river. However, the contribution of pollution is more than 80 per cent. At least 400 to 500 lakh litre of untreated water flows into the river. It is enough to convert the river into a drain,” said Malhotra.

Malhotra led a protest rally at Jantar Mantar in support of Yamuna Bachao Yatra, in which all the members of BJP in the Delhi legislature took part. Senior BJP legislators including Jagdish Mukhi, Harshvardhan, SP Ratawal and Mohan Singh Bisht were present.

All the MLAs courted arrest after police stopped their march to Prime Minister’s residence. 

They were taken to Parliament Street police station from where they were released after a short while.

Malhotra said they will raise the issue in the Assembly session as well as in the Parliament.

“We have been raising this issue in Delhi Assembly for the last 14 years. Yamuna has become 14 times dirtier in the last 14 years. Supreme Court has also pulled up the government several times,” said Malhotra. 

He said there have been so many schemes and foreign tours, but nothing concrete has emerged.

“Around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore has been spent on cleaning the river. But nothing came out because the entire focus of the Delhi government is on corruption,” he said.

The BJP leader said if his party is voted to power it will start a constructive programme to clean up the river within a year.