Yamuna just a drain in Delhi, says pollution board

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Friday told the Supreme Court what Delhiites have known and seen for years — the entire 22-kilometre stretch of the Yamuna in the Capital is a drain.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Friday told the Supreme Court what Delhiites have known and seen for years — the entire 22-kilometre stretch of the Yamuna in the Capital is a drain.

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Giving an update of the court-appointed committee’s preliminary inspection of sewage treatment plants in the Capital, CPCB counsel Vijay Panjwani said: “There is no fresh water in the Yamuna from Wazirabad to Okhla.”

The two-member committee was appointed by a bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar. It includes a CPCB member and the Delhi Jal Board engineer-in-chief. The committee has to ascertain whether DJB’s sewage plants and central effluent treatment plants (CETPs) are functioning up to their optimum capacity or not.

There are 15 sewage and 15 effluent treatment plants located on drains that merge with the Yamuna. The court is hearing a PIL pending since 1994.

Panjwani said that though the Najafgarh drain discharges 2,064 million litres of wastewater per day (MLD), only 629 litres get treated.

Panjwani told the court that the untreated sewage flowed into the Najafgarh drain along with the treated waste water. The bench gave three weeks to the committee to complete its inspection of all the treatment plants and fixed November 30 for a final report.