Ask Delhi to stop polluting Yamuna, Haryana urges Prime Minister

Perturbed over high levels of effluents being discharged into the Yamuna in Delhi, the Haryana government has sought the Prime Minister’s intervention to direct the Delhi Government to contain the river’s pollution, reports Navneet Sharma.

Perturbed over high levels of effluents being discharged into the Yamuna in Delhi, the Haryana government has sought the Prime Minister’s intervention to direct the Delhi Government to contain the river’s pollution.

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In a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, state minister for environment and forests Kiran Choudhry has urged him to ask the Delhi government to contain the discharge of untreated/partially-treated effluents into the river in a planned and time-bound manner.

Effluents from 22 Delhi drains pollute the river, she added.

Referring to samples tested by the Central Pollution Control Board and the Haryana’s Pollution Control Board, she said reports established that the bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) value of the river before entering Delhi was within permissible limits (below 3 mg/l) but when it re-entered Haryana near Badarpur the BOD content was between 9-28 mg/l.

“We are concerned about pollution in the Yamuna, especially in context of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010. I have corresponded with the Delhi chief minister on this issue, but substantial progress is yet to be achieved,” she wrote. The Yamuna supplies potable drinking water to Haryana’s Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat and Palwal districts.