Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday visited a sewage treatment plant located in Delhi Gate and said that cleaning the Yamuna and eradicating water pollution from Delhi within the next five years are the topmost priorities of his government.
Briefing the media after the visit, Mr. Rai said: “There are around 35 sewage treatment plants [STP] across Delhi that function to eliminate pollutants from waterbodies through technically advanced mechanisms. These plants purify untreated water, generate gases that run the sewage plants, and extract waste from water which can be made into compost for agricultural use. Our focus is solely on eliminating water pollution in the city.”
Cleaning the Yamuna was one of the promises in a 10-point ‘guarantee card’ released by the Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
“Our primary focus is on cleaning the Yamuna and eliminating waste from the local waterbodies across the city in the next five years so that effluents from these waterbodies are removed before flowing into the river. Once we are successful in achieving this goal, we will also work on developing the riverfront of the Yamuna,” Mr. Rai said.
Action plan
Earlier this week, the Minister had chaired a high-level meeting with the officials of the Delhi government’s Environment Department and Delhi Pollution Control Committee, to formulate action plans on resolving environmental issues in the Capital. Several meetings have been planned over the next week to oversee the functioning of pollution monitoring in the city.