A large number of people gathered along the Yamuna river banks to form a human chain on early Sunday morning under a citizen-centric initiative to save the river from heavy pollution. Under the “Yamuna Sansad” initiative, people formed the human chain at many places, including ITO, Wazirabad, Kalindikunj, Geeta Colony and Old Usmanpur, raising the demand to revive the river overburdened with sewage and industrial waste discharged in it.
A large number of representatives of social, cultural and religious organisations too participated in the campaign.
Many politicians, including former BJP organisation secretary Govindacharya, Delhi AAP convener and Arvind Kejriwal Government Minister Gopal Rai, Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, too attended the campaign.
Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who joined humanchain at Chhat Ghat at ITO, said that the Kejriwal government will make the Yamuna pollution-free, reaching the river only after treating the sewage of Delhi's colonies in Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) by 2025. “In 2014, there were only 220 unauthorised colonies in Delhi with sewer lines. Today, there are 832 colonies with sewer lines. Initially, STPs in Delhi were treating 350 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) of sewage . Now, STP capacity has increased to 550 MGD, and by 2025, it will be 900 MGD,” he said.
Bhardwaj said, “Pollution is a big problem all over the world: be it air pollution or water pollution. With modernisation came some shortcomings in our society, pollution being one of them. However, the positive aspect is that in recent years, there has been an increasing awareness about pollution among both individuals and governments. Governments allocate separate funds in their budgets to address pollution.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai participated in the "Yamuna Sansad" program organised at Chhath Ghat, ITO, said, ““The Yamuna is not just any river for Delhi, but it sustains a vast ecosystem within the city. The majority of Delhi's water requirements are met by the Yamuna, making it a crucial resource for both economic and ecological purposes. However, the river's ecological balance has been disrupted over time due to the excessive discharge of chemicals, plastics, and other non-biodegradable pollutants. Nevertheless, our government is taking all necessary steps to preserve the sanctity of this sacred river.
Rai appealed to all the people present, “To enhance the ecological condition of Delhi, it is imperative for all individuals to make a commitment to refrain from contaminating the Yamuna river water. It is only through public participation that the environment can be made better and pollution free. The Delhi government will run this campaign as a public campaign in collaboration with the citizens of Delhi.”
'Yamuna Sansad' convener Ravi Shankar Tiwari said the human chain was formed expressing peoples' resolve to contribute to reviving the Yamuna that has been "rendered into a drain despite years of efforts by governments to clean it".
Criticising the Kejriwal government for failing to clean Yamuna, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that it has been more than eight years since Arvind Kejriwal came to power and what he used to say about Yamuna cleaning eight years ago, he is repeating the same thing even today but nothing concrete has been done to clean Yamuna. Sachdeva said that we people of Delhi take about 70 per cent water of our requirement from Yamuna and pour all the filth of Delhi into Yamuna, that is why Yamuna is almost dead here and it is painful.
Delhi Jal Board will soon organise the second phase of Yamuna ki Pathshala’ involving school children to create awareness about cleaning of Yamuna. in the first phase14097 students have been associated with the Yamuna cleaning campaign in the period of March 2022 to April 2023 through the “Yamuna Ki Pathshala” programme. To achieve this feat, “Yamuna Ki Pathshala” program has been organized in 543 schools so far. Delhi Jal Board had set a target of organizing “Yamuna Ki Pathshala” in 400 schools from March 2022 to April 2023.