Dying Yamuna to get breath of life

The Centre and the Delhi Government have agreed to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to clean and rejuvenate river Yamuna for which a blueprint would be prepared in 45 days. The statement from Water Resources Ministry said on Saturday, “This was decided in a meeting between Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi.” The meeting was also attended by Delhi’s Minister-in-charge for Water Kapil Mishra and senior officials of departments concerned  from Central and Delhi Governments, it added.

Bharti has also accepted Kejriwal’s request for convening a joint meeting soon with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. The Chief Minister said that such a meeting was important since all the Ministries/Departments concerned would have to work together for cleaning the historic river and reviving its past glory, the statement added.

Bharti said she would take up the matter with the Ministers concerned and intimate the Chief Minister about the possibility of this meeting. The issue pertaining to beautification of the Yamuna riverfront was also discussed. The two sides expressed confidence that a joint effort will lead to a clean Yamuna, an issue which has been pending for decades, it added.

The Yamuna, venerated by Hindus, originates from the Yamunotri Glacier, at 6,387 meters above sea level in the Himalayas. It flows through Uttarakhand, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (1,376 km) before merging with the Ganges at Allahabad.The river accounts for 70 percent of Delhi’s water needs. The Yamuna is considered largely clean from Yamunotri until Wazirabad in Delhi when the polluted stretch starts.Kejriwal said all concerned ministries and departments would have to work together for cleaning the “historic river and reviving its past glory”.