Aiming to clean River Yamuna, Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra, along with Aam Aadmi Party Punjab State Convener Sucha Singh Chotepur and a team of officials from the Delhi Jal Board, (DJB) visited Seechewal Gaon in Kapurthala to meet Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, a renowned environmental activist, on Monday. Seechewal is famous for resurrecting the 110-mile Kali Bein rivulet.

DJB officials visited various sites operated and maintained by Seechewal to treat wastewater and sewage, which used eco-friendly and natural processes, thus reducing the financial and environmental cost of cleaning the river.

Water Minister Mishra said, “I came here on instructions of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who told me about his visit to Seechewal and the amazing work that Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal has done to clean rivers and purify the environment.”

“The work he has done by leading a citizen’s movement is amazing, and his humility and philosophy is even more inspiring. We have presented our plan to Babaji to clean our River Yamuna, which incorporates almost all the ideas that he has used, including decentralised wastewater treatment, oxidation ponds and maintenance of river flow. We will ensure that River Yamuna is cleaned on war footing and will ensure that the Punjab’s Seechewal model of river cleaning is implemented in Delhi,” said the Minister.

The DJB studied the decentralised natural treatment system, oxidation pond, settling tanks and processes used to remove floating material from the Kali Bein rivulet.

“Key insight was the maintenance of flow through the river which ensured quick self-purification of the river. The DJB team found that many of the processes and techniques used in Seechewal found a prominent place in the Government’s plan to clean River Yamuna,” the Press release stated.