Delhi BJP on Thursday accused the Government of spraying poisonous chemicals to remove froth from the Yamuna River ahead of Chhath Puja 'arghya', set to be observed from October 30-31.
Several senior BJP leaders, including MP Manoj Tiwari, West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Leader of Opposition, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri criticized the AAP and challenged Kejriwal to take a dip in the Yamuna. Tiwari alleged that they had seized about 50,000 liters of poisonous chemical and a complaint had been lodged with the police against the Delhi Jal board (DJB) officials pouring the chemical into the river.
Hitting back at the BJP, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the BJP leaders were trying to divert attention from the garbage issue. "The people of Delhi have given us five years to clean the Yamuna. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls will be an election of Delhi's cleanliness and garbage. The BJP should not deviate from the issue. They should give an account of their 15 years," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Tiwari said, “Since 2013, the Kejriwal Government has been claiming that it will clean the Yamuna in five years and make everyone take a dip, but today 2022 is about to end and in these eight years the Yamuna has only gone from bad to worse. If Kejriwal had understood the seriousness of pollution today, he would have been on the banks of Yamuna at the time of Chhath Puja, not just campaigning on the basis of false promises.”
Verma, too, challenged Kejriwal to take a dip in the Yamuna and alleged that the AAP chief's visit to the Ghazipur landfill site was a ploy to divert attention from the issue of pollution in the river.
Kejriwal visited the Ghazipur site on Thursday and said the MCD polls would be fought on the garbage issue as he promised to clean Delhi in five years if his party wins the civic body election.
"We visited the Yamuna to stock of the pollution there. We were surprised to find that a poisonous chemical was being sprayed to hide the froth," Verma claimed.
Last year, images of devotees offering prayers in the froth-filled Yamuna on Chhath Puja had triggered a political slugfest between the AAP and the BJP, prompting the Delhi Government to take measures like installing bamboo nets and sprinkling water to dissipate the froth.
Bidhuri said that it was a matter of great shame that the Government was not able to provide clean water to the devotees for the puja. He said the Yamuna will continue to have a toxic white foam floating on its surface as the Government could not work on any plan to clean the river. “Kejriwal has stated that 1,100 ghats would be set up for Chhath Puja. I asked the officials to provide a list of ghats but they did not do it,” Bidhuri added.