Mishra submits roadmap to Uma Bharti over Yamuna cleanup plan

“We have presented a time-bound comprehensive plan to Union Minister Uma Bharti and she has promised us full support. After completion of the plan, the ecological value of Yamuna will be restored which will bring the people back to the riverfront,” said Kapil Mishra, Delhi’s Water Minister and chairperson of Delhi Jal Board. 

The delegation also included senior DJB officers closely working on the plan. Mishra claimed that it is a one of it’s kind roadmap that was prepared with complete transparency. According to information, cleaning of Yamuna and all drains and restoring value of the river would be the main plans of the DJB. 

The government has planned to set up Biodiversity Park on the banks of Yamuna. Apart from this, the government has also planned to set up treatment wetlands, catchment wetlands, mosaic patches of grass, floodplain forests, terrestrial forest communities and new habitats. The plan also aims at creating value for the city via public spaces, recreational spaces, navigation and Water Oriented Development (WOD). 

“We will have to stop the sludge coming from Haryana, clean drains opening into Yamuna and clean Yamuna itself,” added Mishra informing about his three pronged approach to clean the river which was once the life line of Delhi. According to the senior officials of DJB, the executing agency of the project, the plan would cost around Rs 6,000 crore and will be completed in the two-and-a-half-years.

“They have incorporated almost all the points suggested by the Union Water Ministry as well. The Central government assures its support to this initiative to clean Yamuna and will implement this Yamuna turnaround plan on a war-footing,” said Uma Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The new plan has come when there is growing pressure from the NGT on the Delhi government to clean and rejuvenate Yamuna which is dying by the day. Earlier, there were three Yamuna Action Plans during the Congress regime costing around Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 crore but nothing significant could be done to rejuvenate the river.