Water Minister Satyendar Jain Tuesday said the Yamuna River will be completely cleaned by December 2023 and not 2025.
Speaking at a virtual session organised by Assocham, he said that all the wastewater in Delhi will be tapped in the next six months and all areas will be linked to the sewer network in the next 15 months.
"We will clean the Yamuna by December 2023 and not 2025. All the drains will be completely cleaned... I am confident. We will invite you all to take a dip in any stretch of the river in Delhi," he said.
"The Yamuna and all the drains in Delhi will be so clean that you will find fish in the water," Jain said.
The minister also said that in the next five to 10 years, Delhi's groundwater table will be as good as it was 50 years ago. "We conducted an experiment on 25 acres of land at Palla (on the northern outskirts of the capital near the Delhi-Haryana border)... It proved successful and we are replicating it now," he said.
Jain said considering the increase in drinking water supply, Delhi aims to achieve a sewage treatment capacity of around 1,000 million gallons a day in the near future.
Delhi generates around 744 million gallons of sewage a day, while the DJB supplies around 935 MGD of drinking water against the demand of 1,150 MGD.