Cleaning of River Yamuna

The Yamuna sometimes called Jamuna or Jumna is a major river in northern India having total length of approximately 1,370 kilometers. Its source is at Yamunotri and it flows through the states of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and finally merges into River Ganga at Allahabad. Mathura, Agra and Delhi are the major cities lying on the banks of this river. In 1970-80’s Yamuna was the lifeline of Delhi has now became the most polluted water resource of the country. Increasing pollution of the Yamuna has now become an international issue and a cause of concern for environmentalists. Big industries, Factories, Peoples living in colonies, slums and rural areas everyone pollute this holy river. 18 drains of city falls into the river as it covers distance of 22 km in Delhi. City dumps its 3,296 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage in the river. A few years back when the pollution level of Yamuna increased alarmingly, the Delhi government woke up. A number of projects were launched by the government to clean the Yamuna, but till date nothing has happened. Yamnua Action Plan has not given desired results because it is not in accordance with the Master Plan for Delhi-2021. Last Year Delhi Govt. entered into agreement with Engineers India Limited to clean Yamuna. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) proposed laying down sewers along the three major drains — Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahadra drains and also make 15 sewage treatment plants functional to prevent the waste from going into this holy river. Recently DJB accepts before the court that some lapses are have gone in past regarding cleaning of river and we all knows that most sewage treatment plants are malfunctioning or don’t have sufficient maintenance and manpower due to corruption and lack of administration. Delhi Govt said that it will be not able to clean the Yamuna before 2012 or upto 2010 Commonwealth Games but government had not considered to work 24 x 7 x 365 to clean the river. If cleaning work goes 24 x 7 x 365 the Holy River will be definitely clean before 2010.

In 1960 the famous Thames river of London was also got polluted but the river had been cleaned with excellent clean up model and now the river is a very important part of London’s beauty. We hope that the same will goes for Yamuna before 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The most important question is that can clean up drive become successful without the contribution of Delhites? In our country, India we all assumes that it is duty of government to do everything. If government agencies failed to do something, should not we take our own initiative and put our efforts to complete the project. It is almost impossible to make the Yamuna clean, till Delhites wake up. It is the prime duty of Delhites to help the government to save Yamuna. Only then Yamuna clean up drive can achieve its goal.

'Obviously, there is need for greater involvement of citizens' groups and volunteers

All over the world, there was a fresh reawakening about the state of rivers.