Cleaning Yamuna, 24x7 water: Budget for water, sanitation doubled
New Delhi: Aiming to clean the Yamuna river in Delhi in the next two years and provide 24X7 water supply to all households by 2025, the Delhi government has doubled the outlay for water and sanitation to Rs 6,710 crore in the Budget 2022-23. The allocation for water and sanitation is 104 per cent more than Rs 3,274 crore earmarked in 2021-22.
Presenting the budget in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said all the drains falling into the Yamuna will be checked and sewage treated either by taking it to STPs or it will be converted into clean water by in-situ treatment.
"All these plans are progressing at a rapid pace. And, in two years, the Yamuna in Delhi will be completely cleaned. It is the resolution of the Delhi government that not even a drop of dirty water should fall in the Yamuna from the side of the people of Delhi", he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said the river will be cleaned by 2025.
Sisodia said that all the unauthorised colonies in the capital will be connected to the sewer network by the end of this year. According to government data, sewer lines have been laid and commissioned in 706 of the 1,799 unauthorised colonies in the capital and the work is in progress in 448 others.
The 22-km stretch of the river between Wazirabad and Okhla, which is less than 2 per cent of its length of 1,370 km from Yamunotri to Allahabad, accounts for around 80 per cent of the pollution load in the river.
Untapped wastewater from unauthorised colonies and 'jhuggi-jhopri' clusters, and poor quality of treated wastewater discharged from STPs and common effluent treatment plants are the main reasons behind high levels of pollution in the river.
At least 29 per cent of the sewage generated in Delhi in the financial year 2021-22 fell into the Yamuna untreated.
Rs 750 cr to turn Najafgarh drain back into Sahibi river
Moreover, the Delhi government has also set aside funds to clean up the water in the Najafgarh Drain and once again turn it into a clean stream going into the Yamuna that can also be doubled up as a tourist spot. This year, Rs 705 crore has been set aside for this and in his address to the Assembly, Sisodia said that the "drain" will once again become the Sahibi river - its original name.
The river eventually came to be known as the Najafgarh drain because of the excess waste that was pouring into it and its original glory will be restored, he said, adding that work on this had already started. Floating aerators will be installed on it to purify the water and the work of in situ cleaning of Najafgarh drain and beautification of roads on both sides will also start simultaneously.
