NEW DELHI :
DELHI Minister of Irrigation
and Flood Control Parvesh Verma
inspected theYamuna by boat on
Wednesday and said1,300 tonnes
of garbage have been removed
from the river in the past 10 days.
Cleaning the Yamuna was one
of the key promises made by the
BJP for the recently-concluded
Delhi Assembly polls.
“In 2023, Delhi faced a flood.
Previously, allthe floodgateswere
closed, but now they have been
repaired and raised to prevent
future flooding,” Verma said.
“Our biggest commitment is to
completely clean and restore the
Yamuna. As of now, 1,300 metric
tonnes of garbage have been
removed in the last 10 days.
The
DelhiDevelopmentAuthoritywill
restoretheriverbedandencroachments are being removed,” the
Minister said.
He alsosaid, SewageTreatment
Plants (STPs) will be installed for
the 18 majordrains thatdischarge
effluents into the river.
“Complaints will be addressed,
new STPs will be set up and the
capacity of existing ones will be
increased. All STPs are expected
to be installed within two years,”
Verma said.
He claimed that in the past
decade, no significant work had
been done to clean the river, “not
even on paper”.
“It never even occurred to the
previous Government to work for
theYamuna.But now, notonlythe
Delhi Government but the PMO
(ProjectManagementOffice)itself
is involved,” Verma added.