New Delhi: National Green Tribunal chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena undertook a joint inspection of the cleaning and rejuvenation of the Najafgarh Drain on Saturday, with the NGT chief emphasising on the need to clean it at the earliest. Justice Goel and Saxena, accompanied by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and other senior officers of various stakeholder departments and agencies, took a boat ride from Bharat Nagar (Ashok Vihar) to Timarpur along the drain and took stock of the cleaning operations, the Raj Niwas said in a statement.
After the inspection, Justice Goel expressed hope that efforts being made to rejuvenate the water body would fetch desirable results in terms of reducing pollution in Yamuna and revival of the Sahibi river, that the drain once was, it said. Ruing the fact that persistent court monitoring and orders in the past had "fetched little results" in terms of cleaning of the Najafgarh Drain, the NGT chairperson asked the L-G to ensure that "efforts being undertaken are taken to their logical conclusion in a time-bound manner," the statement said.
The L-G assured him that "all the 122 feeder drains bringing sewage and silt into the Najafgarh drain will be trapped at the earliest, and no stone will be left unturned to ensure that the drain gets rejuvenated into its original avatar of a river, and stops polluting the Yamuna".
The NGT chairperson was informed that work on cleaning and rejuvenation of the 57-km drain is using the extremely cost-effective partial gravitational desilting technology and trapping of 32 feeder drains bringing in unfettered sewage and silt, in the first phase Timarpur-Bharat Nagar stretch, the statement said.
While the work of desilting and restoration of embankments from Wazirabad to Timarpur was completed in November end, cleaning on the 7.5-km stretch between Mall Road Bridge and Bharat Nagar too has been completed, it added.