Delhi govt fast-tracks Yamuna River cleaning

New Delhi: The Delhi government has launched a comprehensive 45-point action plan to rejuvenate the Yamuna River within the next two years with the involvement of multiple agencies to deal with challenges of sewerage treatment and trapping drains flowing in the river, officials on Friday said.

The plan, approved by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, will be primarily carried by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Irrigation and Flood Control department and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) among others.

The ongoing projects for Yamuna cleaning and rejuvenation and the new plans and projects have been clubbed together with specific deadlines under 10 working heads, they said.

The ambitious action plan was approved in a DJB meeting headed by the chief minister earlier this month. The plan, the officials said, largely involves projects under main heads—sewage management, drain trapping, solid waste management, storm water management and adding flow to the Yamuna River. According to a recently published report, Delhi contributes a staggering 76 per cent of the Yamuna’s total pollution load despite accounting for just two per cent of its length.

To add flow into the river from three STPs — Coronation Pillar, Yamuna Vihar and Okhla (sewage treatment plant) STP — the DJB has to create a conveyance system.

It is mandatory to add treated water back into the river to maintain flow. The deadline for this work is September 2026. The Okhla STP is the largest such STP in Asia, the officials claimed. The Yamuna in Delhi flows for 52 kilometers, of which a critical 22 km segment from Wazirabad to Okhla is highly polluted and has become the focal point of multiple planning and policy efforts.

As per the government document, the I&FC will be adding floating skimmers on the Yamuna River and Najafgarh Drain. These devices are used to collect floating debris in a body of water. Floating pontoons on each of the major drain having an outfall in the river will be done by this month end.

The MCD has been directed to monitor and prevent the falling of solid waste in drains and sub-drains. In addition to that, the DDA has been asked to clear any waste dumps on the Yamuna floodplains. The action plan also has projects regarding enforcement by the land-owning agency to remove encroachments from floodplains and drains by November this year.

A crucial project for Yamuna cleaning, the Interceptor Sewage Project (ISP) is also part of the long-term plan. The DJB has for the past few years been working on this, which entails trapping all the drains and diverting the wastewater flowing in them to the nearby STP. “The DJB has been directed to complete the work of all the packages of ISP by September 2025. Besides, the tapping of Sonia Vihar,

Barapullah, Maharani Bagh and Shahadra drains has to

be done by March 2026,” the document added.