Blame is the weapon of the incompetent. A prime example of this is Delhi Education Minister Atishi’s statement blaming Uttar Pradesh for the alarming pollution in the Yamuna River. On Thursday, November 16, AAP leader Atishi claimed that the toxic foam of the Yamuna would be cleared in the next two days ahead of Chhath Pooja and asked the Uttar Pradesh government to stop the release of polluted water in the Yamuna River.
“To remove the toxic foam, Delhi Jal Board has begun sprinkling of food-grade chemicals and enzymes is being done there. The sprinkling team started the sprinkling work on 10 boats last night. In the next two days, the toxic foam will completely vanish…But I would like to urge the Uttar Pradesh government to not send its polluted water to Delhi.”
#WATCH | On cleaning of river Yamuna ahead of Chhath, Delhi Minister Atishi says, "To remove that (toxic foam), sprinkling of food-grade chemicals and enzymes is being done there. The sprinkling team started the sprinkling work on 10 boats last night. In the next two days, the… pic.twitter.com/uXD3cv8UnS
— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2023
AAP has a habit of blaming UP, that is downstream, for pollution in Yamuna
This is, however, not the first time that an AAP leader has blamed neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh for polluted Yamuna waters. In 2021, AAP MP Raghav Chadha had blamed Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for Yamuna pollution as he said “The foam in the Yamuna is at Okhla Barrage area, which comes under UP irrigation department, it’s UP Government’s responsibility. But like every year, they failed this year too…The polluted water is not Delhi’s, it’s a gift to Delhi by the UP and Haryana Governments.”
Over the years, domestic and industrial sewage generated within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) has been a major source of pollution in the Yamuna River. A 2005 Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report highlighted that even after spending over Rs 800 crore since 1994 for the setting up of sewage treatment infrastructure, the quality of water leaving Delhi continued to deteriorate with a significant amount of untreated sewage falling into the Yamuna river. The report also underscored the lack of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) required for the treatment of industrial sewage waste.
Delhi Jal Board’s sewage problem
Years passed but the pollution persisted with the quality of Yamuna waters deteriorating. According to a 2013 CAG report, the Delhi Jal Board under the Delhi government added only 1 million gallons per day (MGD) capacity of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and laid only 900 kilometres of sewer line during 2007-12 even after spending Rs 1634.18 crore. It was reported that during the test check of records at 15 out of 32 STPs all were operating below their capacities as the DJB failed to set up a system to carry enough sewage to the STPs. While the erstwhile Congress governments failed to deliver their promises of cleaning the Yamuna River, the AAP government has not been any different from its predecessor.
SP govt in UP had earlier warned Delhi govt over pollution in Yamuna
Back in 2014, the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government had warned the Delhi government led by CM Arvind Kejriwal to cut its water supply demanding that the discharge of the drains should be first treated and only then, released in the Yamuna. The Uttar Pradesh government had alleged that Delhi empties its 18 drains into the Yamuna, which ultimately pollutes the Ganga river. The then state Irrigation Minister Shivpal Singh had warned that if the Delhi government failed to take appropriate measures, the daily quota of 400 cusecs of water allocated for Delhi would be diverted to Agra and Mathura.
The Yamuna River, the Ganga’s main tributary, flows through Delhi for 22 kilometres. This is the most contaminated stretch of the river’s extensive journey. The length of Yamuna’s stretch in Delhi is only 2% of the total length of the river basin, yet it accounts for more than 79% of the total pollution load in the river.
According to a Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) report released in May this year, out of the 35 operational STPs, 22 were not meeting the prescribed standards impacting the quality of Yamuna River’s water.
The data showed that metrics including total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), and dissolved phosphate levels were consistently breached at a number of the STPs, including some new STPs like the Keshopur or Kondli plants.
According to DPCC’s September report, 60% of the STPs in the national capital fall are not in compliance with the prescribed parameters including the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS). The report noted that one of the 38 inspected STPs, Rithala, was undergoing rehabilitation, while 23 failed water quality standard tests.
According to the report, the city generates an estimated 792 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage, with an installed capacity of 667MGD. However, only 550 MGD of the total installed capacity is being treated, leaving 242 MGD, or nearly 30% of total generated sewage, untreated. According to the report, the Delhi government increased the installed capacity of STPs by 35 MGD, from 632 MGD in August to 667 MGD in September. However, the amount of sewage processed increased by only 3MGD, from 245MGD in September to 242MGD in August.
The DPCC report further states the construction of a new 124 million gallons per day (MGD) STP in Okhla has been delayed by nine months and will now be completed by March of next year. The building of a 7 MGD STP in Sonia Vihar has also been delayed by four months, with a revised completion date set for the end of 2023.
Instead of shifting the blame on neighbouring BJP-ruled states, the Delhi AAP government should focus on curtailing the delays in the construction of new STPs in Okhla and Sonia Vihar.
According to the DPCC report, the construction of a new 124 million gallons per day (MGD) STP in Okhla has been delayed by nine months and will now be completed by March of next year. The building of a 7 MGD STP in Sonia Vihar has also been delayed by four months, with a revised completion date set for the end of 2023.
Atishi the education minister needs a geography class, UP is downstream of Delhi on Yamuna’s path
Ironically, the Education Minister of Delhi and probably the second best in the world after Manish Sisodia as per AAP’s ‘standard’ of best, skipped her geography classes to not know that Yamuna rises at 4,421 meters in the high Himalayas, from the Yamunotri Glacier. It rises in the high Himalayas and runs southward through the Himalayan foothills before exiting Uttarakhand and entering the Indo-Gangetic Plain near the border between Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to the west. The Yamuna then flows through Delhi. It curves south-eastward flowing entirely within Uttar Pradesh. The Yamuna River confluences with the Ganga River near Prayagraj after a journey of approximately 855 miles (1,376 kilometers).
As reported earlier, in the budget presented by the Delhi Government for the financial year 2023-24, around 1,028 crores were 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.” However, it has been three years and still, the Delhi Jal Board is required to sprinkle food-grade chemicals and enzymes to make the toxic foam in the Yamuna River “vanish”.
The Delhi lieutenant governor’s office was reported to have stated in January of this year that during the last eight years of the Arvind Kejriwal government, pollution in the Yamuna River in Delhi has increased by twofold.
It was reported in 2014 that the pollution in the river in terms of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) was within permissible levels at Palla, where the Yamuna enters Delhi, at a modest 2. In 2014, the river’s BOD load was 32 when it exited Delhi at Okhla Barrage. However, in 2023, although the BOD load at Palla stayed at 2, it rose to an astounding 56 at Okhla.
With 60% of STPs in the national capital not in compliance with prescribed parameters, as well as the toxic foam appearing on the Yamuna river much like every year and the AAP ministers continuing the blame game, CM Arvind Kejriwal’s promise of a clean and pollution free Yamuna remains a distant dream.
