Yamuna pollution: Delhi LG urges Khattar for meet
Saxena heads a high-level committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by a January 9 order, which has been asked to look into Yamuna’s pollution.
Lieutenant governor VK Saxena has urged Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to convene a meeting between Delhi and Haryana to find a sustainable solution to the issue of pollution in the Yamuna.
Saxena heads a high-level committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by a January 9 order, which has been asked to look into Yamuna’s pollution. The tribunal had asked the LG to fix timelines and take corrective action to ensure the river’s water quality showed an improvement in a time-bound manner.
In a letter dated February 2, the LG referred to his earlier discussions with Khattar over the treatment of effluents from three key drains – Palam Vihar, Dharampur and Badshahpur, which carry silt, untreated sewage and industrial waste into the Najafgarh drain and ultimately into the Yamuna -- asking for a solution for this problem.
“It is pertinent to mention that prompt interventions done by the departments concerned in Delhi as directed by me during my inspections of Najafgarh drain have translated in improvement of water quality in Najafgarh drain as evident in the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels reducing to 53 mg/l from75 mg/l in only five months. This further underscores the importance of treating the major drains before they fall into the river Yamuna,” Saxena wrote, asking for Haryana’s drains that reach the Najafgarh drain to be tackled in a similar manner.
Calling for collective action, the LG further noted that the toxic discharge from the Najafgarh drain into the Yamuna not only has severe health ramifications for the people of Delhi but also those living downstream in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Noting that despite assurances from the Haryana irrigation department to set up sewage treatment plants (STPs) to treat sewage before it enters the Najafgarh drain, no substantial progress had been made so far, the LG wrote, “In view of the above, I request your personal intervention and solicit a meeting of the two states are per your convenience, preferably in Delhi or Chandigarh at the earliest, so that corrective measures in terms of the order dated January 9, 2023 may be taken.”