Delhi govt to spend ₹45 crore on cleaning Najafgarh drain

Delhi water minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has inspected the cleaning of the Najafgarh drain, a major contributor to pollution in the Yamuna river, and announced that the government will spend ?45.9 crore ($6.4 million) on desilting and cleaning operations. The minister also blamed neighbouring Haryana for polluting the river. The Delhi government has previously clashed with the lieutenant governor over river cleaning efforts.

Delhi water minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday inspected the cleaning operations at Najafgarh drain, considered the biggest drain contributing to the pollution in the Yamuna, and said that the government will spend around ₹45.9 crore on desilting and cleaning it.

Bharadwaj said that the desilting and cleaning of the drain was being done on a large scale and the government will spend ₹11.2 crore on the project. (HT Archive)

Bharadwaj said that the desilting and cleaning of the drain was being done on a large scale and the government will spend ₹11.2 crore on the project. “Silt hump is being removed through a project costing ₹20.8 crore. Clean-up activity is also being done from Khyala Bridge to Basaidarapur Bridge which will cost ₹13.9 crore,” he added. Bhardwaj inspected the work of desilting as well as the hydraulic excavators for the removal of water hyacinth and silt.

After removing the hump in the drain, the discharge of water will reach the Yamuna more quickly. The minister said that over the last few years, the government has reserved crores in every budget to clean the Yamuna due to which small drains flowing into bigger drains were being treated in sewer treatment plants. This process stops the sewage from directly reaching the river, he said.

A Delhi Jal Board(DJB) official said that the excavators mounted on floating bridges were being used to remove water hyacinths which deplete oxygen levels in the water, making it stagnant and unusable. “Adequate oxygen is capable of cleaning the water on its own. We are working to remove the water hyacinths from the drain. Silt is being removed so the flow of the drain can be sped up,” the DJB official added.

Bharadwaj said that the government was committed to cleaning the river by 2025. Meanwhile, he also blamed neighbouring Haryana for contributing to Yamuna’s pollution.

“Earlier, this drain was referred to as Sahibi River but modernisation and sewer waste from Haryana polluted it. We are working towards using sewage treatment plants to clean its water,” he tweeted in Hindi.

He added that urbanisation, untreated sewer, and industrial waste of many cities of Haryana were now mixed with the Najafgarh Lake at Badshahpur and Dharmapura drains. “The sewer and industrial waste of these colonies and industrial clusters started falling into Najafgarh’s drain through small drains,” he added.

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government and lieutenant governor VK Saxena have previously locked horns over the cleaning of the river and the drain, with both sides accusing each other of stealing the credit for their work.

Bharadwaj’s inspection on Tuesday came even as the LG was inspecting the Yamuna clean-up and navigation with the outgoing National Green Tribunal (NGT) chief.

On May 24, the Delhi government challenged the NGT order in Supreme Court which constituted a high-level committee to clean the river, headed by the LG on January 9.