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Yamuna River
A parliamentary panel has said the Yamuna river's capacity to sustain life have been found to be almost non-existent in the Delhi stretch, noting that 23 out of the 33 monitored sites, including six in the national capital, failed to meet primary water quality standards. The Yamuna flows through a 40 km stretch in Delhi, entering at Palla from Haryana and exiting at Asgarpur into Uttar Pradesh. The dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, which reflect the river's capacity to sustain life, were found to be almost non-existent in the Delhi stretch, the parliamentary standing committee on water resources said in its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. In its report on the Upper Yamuna River Cleaning Project and river bed management in Delhi, the panel warned that despite the construction and upgrade of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, pollution levels remain alarmingly high. The Committee called for a coordinated response from all stakeholders to tackle pollution a
Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Parvesh Verma, inspected the Yamuna by boat on Wednesday and said 1,300 tonnes of garbage had been removed from the river in the past 10 days. Later, he held a meeting with officials to assess the progress of the cleanup effort and said, "All drains in Delhi will be connected to sewage treatment plants (STPs) and their capacity will be increased to prevent untreated wastewater from flowing into the river." Cleaning the Yamuna was one of the key promises made by the BJP for the recently-concluded Delhi Assembly polls. He assured people that complaints related to sewage treatment would be addressed and all STPs are expected to be installed within two years. "In 2023, Delhi faced a flood. Previously, all the floodgates were closed, but now they have been repaired and raised to prevent future flooding," the minister said. "Our biggest commitment is to completely clean and restore the Yamuna. As of now, 1,300 metric tonnes of garbage have bee
Delhi Minister of Irrigation and Flood Control Parvesh Verma inspected the Yamuna by boat on Wednesday and said 1,300 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, all the floodgates were 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 Delhi Development Authority will restore the riverbed and encroachments are being removed," the minister said. He also said sewage treatment plants (STPs) will be installed for the 18 major drains that discharge 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 ...
With the BJP government in Delhi focusing on the rejuvenation of the Yamuna, plans are afoot to start a cruise service in the river, between Sonia Vihar and Jagatpur, for tourism purposes, officials said on Saturday. Under the plan, a six-km stretch of the Yamuna is to be developed from the Wazirabad barrage (Sonia Vihar) to Jagatpur (Shani temple) for cruise operations for tourists, they said. The Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) issued a request for quotation (RFQ) on Friday for engaging a suitable operator to run two solar or electric battery-powered cruises on the identified river stretch. When developed, this shall boost river-cruise tourism as it will be an environment-friendly and sustainable water-transport project with coordinated efforts of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), DTTDC and the irrigation and flood control department, the proposal document said. The DTTDC will enga
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta performed 'Yamuna Aarti' along with her cabinet colleagues at Vasudev Ghat on Thursday soon after formally taking charge as the ninth CM of the national capital at the Secretariat. The pollution in the Yamuna river and cleaning it had become a major issue between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the one side and opposition parties BJP and Congress on the other during the run-up to the Delhi Assembhly elections. AAP convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked by both the BJP and the Congress over the highly polluted Yamuna. Gupta, along with Delhi BJP state president Virendra Sachdeva and her cabinet colleagues Parvesh Sahib Singh, Asish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Kumar Singh performed 'Maa Yamuna puja' before conducting aarti ahead of the first cabinet meeting. Ram bhajans were played at the ghat, and slogans of "Jai Shree Ram" and "Yamuna Maiya Ki Jai" were raised. Earl
A case has been registered Haryana's Kurukshetra district against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in connection with his "poison in Yamuna" remark in on Tuesday. The development comes a day before the assembly polls in Delhi. As per the FIR, the case has been registered against the former Delhi chief minister and other unknown members of the Aam Aadmi Party at Shahabad police station on a complaint filed by Kurukshetra resident and advocate Jagmohan Manchanda on Tuesday. Kejriwal has been under fire from the BJP for his "poison in Yamuna" remark with the saffron party leaders criticising him for his "irresponsible" statement. The BJP leaders had accused Kejriwal of spreading fear not only among Delhi's people but also among Haryana's citizens with his false claims. The case has been registered under sections including 192 (penalizes those who maliciously or wantonly provoke others with the intent to incite a riot), 196 (1) (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religi
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will visit the Election Commission office here on Friday to furnish his reply to the poll body over its notice to him on his "poison mixed" in Yamuna water remark. Kejriwal, who will be accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, will visit the EC office at 11 am, the party said. Kejriwal on Thursday accused the EC and its chief election commissioner of indulging in politics over his statement and claimed that Yamuna water supplied from Haryana to Delhi has high levels of ammonia content. The EC served him two notices seeking reply over his allegation that the BJP government mixed "poison" in Yamuna water for Delhi attempting a "genocide" in the city. Kejriwal, who is contesting the Delhi polls from the New Delhi seat, was asked to share details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the "poison" by Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11 am, failing which the Commission will be free to take appropriate ..
AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday claimed that Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini "pretended" to drink Yamuna water and then spat some of it back in the river, saying they want Delhi people to consume the same "poisonous" water. Amid a controversy over his remark that BJP-ruled Haryana was "mixing poison" in Delhi water supplied through Yamuna and attempting "genocide", Kejriwal shared a video of Saini performing Achman (sipping holy river water) at Yamuna bank in Haryana. "Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini pretended to drink Yamuna water... and then spat the same water back into the Yamuna. When I said that Yamuna water could be dangerous for the lives of Delhiites due to ammonia contamination then they threatened to lodge an FIR against me. "They want to make the people of Delhi drink the same poisonous water which they themselves can not drink. I will never let this happen," Kejriwal said in the post. Earlier the day, the Haryana chief minister shared his vi
Amid an escalating row over AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's claim of Haryana poisoning the Yamuna water, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at former Delhi chief minister, alleging that he has failed to fulfil his promise to clean the river in the last 10 years. Later in the day, Kejriwal responded to the Election Commission (EC) notice over his claim that the Haryana government was "mixing poison" in Yamuna and said raw water received from the state recently has been "highly contaminated and extremely poisonous" for human health. In a related development, a court in Haryana's Sonipat on Wednesday summoned Kejriwal on February 17 on a complaint over his claim that the BJP-ruled state was mixing "poison in the Yamuna" river. The court of Sonipat Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Goyal issued a notice to Kejriwal in the matter. Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 5 and counting of votes will be undertaken on
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday responded to the Election Commission notice over his claim that Haryana government was "mixing poison" in Yamuna, and said raw water received from the state recently has been "highly contaminated and extremely poisonous" for human health. In his reply, the former Delhi chief minister also said his remarks were made in context of an "urgent public health crisis" over drinking water quality in the city. In the 14-page reply to the Election Commission, he said the "alleged statements" attributed to him were made as his public duty to highlight the "severe toxicity and contamination" of raw water received from the BJP-ruled state. Following a complaint filed by the BJP over the matter, the Election Commission issued the notice to Kejriwal on Tuesday, giving him time till Wednesday 8 pm to furnish his reply. Kejriwal also said the ammonia level in raw water received from Haryana was so "extreme" that water treatment plants in Delhi are unable to ..
The Centre has informed the National Green Tribunal the 2023 flood forecast by the Central Water Commission was inaccurate due to the congestion in River Yamuna between Wazirabad and Okhla barrages. The green body had taken a suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report and sought a response of the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), Central Water Commission (CWC) and others over the failure of the commission to predict Delhi witnessing its worst floods in 2023. In 2023, Delhi witnessed one of its worst flood-like situations in several pockets due to heavy rains and over 25,000 people were evacuated from inundated areas. The reply filed by the MoJS and CWC on January 4 said the high discharge downstream of Hathnikund Barrage created a flood situation in River Yamuna near Delhi. "Due to this, the flow of the Delhi Railway Bridge (DRB) site increased continuously and crossed the previous high flow level (HFL) of 207.49 metre at 13:00 (1 pm) hrs on July 12, 2023, and achieved the highes