As the issue of waste dumping into rivers, including the Yamuna, continues to pose a significant environmental challenge, a Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the Department of Water Resources develop norms that include penal provisions against citizens who engage in such activities.
In response to this pressing issue, infact, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has already taken steps to address this issue by banning open defecation and waste dumping on the floodplains of the Yamuna river as well as imposing imposed an environment compensation or penalty of ?5,000 for those found violating these regulations. But these are hardly being implemented.
In alignment with these efforts, the Standing Committee on Water Resources has urged the Department under the Ministry of Jal Shakti to collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. Their aim is to explore strategies for promoting organic farming along the river’s course, with incentives provided to farmers to minimize the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.It’s crucial that both regulatory measures and incentives for sustainable practices work hand in hand to address the multifaceted challenges facing river ecosystems.
The suggestions came in view of the potential health hazards due to the use of fertilisers and pesticides in the floodplains of Yamuna.
In its 27th report ‘Review of Upper Yamuna River Cleaning Projects up to Delhi and River Bed Management in Delhi’ submitted in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday also flagged that no study has been conducted to assess the impact of construction and demolition debris, as well as bio-medical waste dumping on the health of river Yamuna.
It further stated that according to Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA’s) reply, a number of steps have been taken, such as deployment of security guards, installation of surveillance and issuing challans to prevent dumping.
The DDA noted that the number of challans issued has increased from one in the year 2018 to 610 in the year 2021, indicating the rise in instances of dumping of debris into Yamuna.
The committee stated that dumping of waste, construction material and bio-medical waste have the potential to obstruct the natural flow of water during intense precipitation and water may accumulate where it is not required and thus, may result in flash flood.