Delhi CM, along with LG Saxena, Minister Parvesh Verma inspects Barapullah, Wazirabad drain

New Delhi [India], April 10 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inspected the supplementary drain at Wazirabad in the national capital on Thursday. 

The Delhi CM was accompanied by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and Minister Parvesh Verma.

Meanwhile, the Delhi CM, LG Saxena and Parvesh Verma also inspected the drainage of Barapullah Bridge near the Nizamuddin Bridge. 

The Delhi government has assigned the Flood and Irrigation Department a special responsibility to ensure the timely desilting of drains. 

The drain (Wazirabad) is one of the major ones flowing into the Yamuna and is, hence, crucial in cleaning the river.

Notably, after the BJP won with a historic mandate of 48 seats of 70 Delhi Assembly seats, the cleaning process for the Yamuna River was taken up, and trash skimmers, weed harvesters, and dredge utility vehicles were deployed to the river on February 16.

Pollution in the Yamuna was a key issue during the Delhi Assembly elections, with political parties targeting each other over pollution, encroachments, and flood management. BJP attacked AAP and accused it of failing to deliver on promises of cleaning the Yamuna.

Apart from this, the BJP has mentioned cleaning the Yamuna as one of the top priorities in its manifesto.

Since then, the Delhi Government had requested the Territorial Army to safeguard the river from dumping, mining, encroachment, and theft.

This decision aims to preserve the river in its natural form and achieve the government's target of cleaning the Yamuna within three years.

The Territorial Army's Ecological Task Force is capable of protecting the Yamuna River, and their deployment is anticipated in the coming months.

This move is crucial, given the severe pollution of the Yamuna River, which is attributed to untreated sewage discharge, industrial effluents, garbage dumping, illegal sand mining, water theft, and encroachment.

In a related development, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena launched an intensive campaign to clean the Yamuna floodplains, which included inducting a 94-member company of the territorial army to ensure the cleaned stretches remain encroachment-free.

The Yamuna Master Plan is a comprehensive, sustainable, and scientific approach to river rejuvenation. It focuses on targeted interventions through a four-pronged strategy. 

With a mission-driven approach, the plan seeks to transform the Yamuna into a clean and rejuvenated river, addressing long-standing environmental concerns in the 22 km stretch passing through Delhi. (ANI)