Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Lieutenant-Governor’s office on Sunday said a strategy has been adopted to clean the Yamuna in the city in three years. The cleaning of trash and silt in the river has started, a source told The Hindu.

Ahead of the Delhi poll, senior BJP leaders, who slammed AAP for not delivering on its promise, had vowed to develop the Yamuna riverbank on the lines of the Sabarmati.

“The execution of this plan that targets cleaning the river in about three years will require coordination between various departments that include the Delhi Jal Board, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Environment Department, Public Works Department, and Delhi Development Authority,” the Raj Niwas source said.

According to the plan, the trash, garbage, and silt in the Yamuna will be removed and simultaneously cleaning operations will begin in the Najafgarh drain and all other major drains.

Additionally, the capacity and output of the existing sewage treatment plants (STPs) will be maintained and a time-bound plan to construct new STPs or decentralised sewage treatment plants will be put in place if there is a shortfall of treating about 400 MGD of sewer.

The pollution control panel will monitor the discharge of industrial waste into the drains.

The mission to rejuvenate the Yamuna had started in January 2023, when the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had constituted a High-Level Committee (HLC) under the chairmanship of Mr. Saxena.

“However, after five meetings of the HLC, which was closely monitoring cleaning operations, the then AAP government moved the Supreme Court and got the NGT order stayed in June 2023,” the source said.