In a recent reply to a question asked in the Delhi Assembly, the Environment Department of the Delhi Government led by Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party revealed that it has spent around Rs 6,856.91 crores in five years, from 2017 to 2021. The department provided the information to March 22 question, said The Hindu report.
Despite over a thousand crores spent on cleaning the river every year, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) reports suggest the stretch remains polluted almost the whole year. In February, DPCC reported the faecal coliform in the river was 500 times high the desirable level at the point where the river exits the city.
Lost list of promises but no concrete results
In the budget presented by Delhi Government for the financial year 2023-24, around 1,028 crores have been earmarked for cleaning River Yamuna. CM Kejriwal again promised that he would take a dip in the river in the next assembly elections, a promise that he made before but never fulfilled.
In January 2020, just before the assembly elections, he had said, “The Yamuna will be cleaned and made pollution-free. We promise that after five years, anyone will be able to take a dip in the Yamuna without fear of diseases due to dirty water.”
In a statement, convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan Manoj Mishra said, “One, a single agency should be responsible for the rejuvenation to ensure accountability. Second, increasing the natural flow of the river has to be prioritised. Third, the floodplains should be protected. No developmental work should be allowed on them, and they should be restored in an ecological manner.”
In a National Green Tribunal committee report, 2 per cent of the total 1,400 KM long Yamuna flows between Wazirabad and Okhla in Delhi. This 2 per cent stretch constitutes 76 per cent of the river’s pollution load.
Kejriwal’s failed promises to clean Yamuna
The series of issuing dates after dates for cleaning the Yamuna by the Delhi government has been going on since the year 2015. Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal 2015 promised to clean the Yamuna river within five years (by 2020). In the same year, he said, “After five years, we will bring every resident of Delhi to the Yamuna so that they can feel proud of the clean river.”
In November 2019, he said his government has planned to clean the Yamuna in the next four to five years, and people would be able to take a dip in it. In December same year, he promised the people attending his rally that by the next elections (scheduled in 2025), he would take the whole village for a dip in the Yamuna.
In January 2020, he again promised to get it cleaned in five years. He had promised to take a dip in the Yamuna himself. He did not fulfil the promise. Notably, toxic foam appears in the river every now and then, reminding the residents that the river desperately needs attention.
