Yamuna Pollution

In the past month-and-a-half, Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and its main Opposition, the BJP, have traded charges over Chhath puja rituals in the capital. The latest dispute between the two warring parties pertains to a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) order of September 30 prohibiting rituals along the Yamuna’s banks. The BJP holds Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responsible for the ban, even though the DDMA helmed by LG Anil Baijal has justified the prohibition as a Covid precaution. On Wednesday, BJP leaders defied the ban while Kejriwal appealed to the Opposition to desist from politics over Chhath. Much more serious than this bickering, though, is the state of the Yamuna. After facing fire for the toxic froth in the Yamuna water, Delhi government resorted to unique methods to mitigate the problem. At first, Delhi Jal Board ran nine boats on the river’s surface to clear the layer of froth, said an official. Workers on the boats tried to push away the white foam, which did not provide the required results. Later in the day, the irrigation and flood department of Delhi government put up barricades made out of bamboo in the water, along with green trampoline nets, to stop the froth from coming near the bank. For about a week, the river has been
shrouded by a sheet of pollutants that could be mistaken for snow from a distance. For the past three days, social media has been flooded with visuals of devotees taking a dip in the river enveloped by the toxic foam. The white sheet is a sign of an ecologically-dead river. Release of inadequately treated water or untreated sewage from areas not connected to the city’s sewerage network precipitates frothing. During the period when the river’s flow is lean, it is not able to wash off this detritus.

The foam has been visible for more than a decade. But, by all accounts, it has been covering a greater expanse of the river in the past five years. Delhi Jal Board’s Vice-Chairman Raghav Chadha – an AAP member – has blamed UP’s Irrigation Department, responsible for maintaining the Okhla Barrage, for the pollution. The Delhi government maintains that the frothing is only downstream of this point. He has accused sugar and paper mills in places like
Meerut and Shamli of releasing untreated wastewater into the Hindon Canal at the Yamuna Barrage. The Haryana government has also been criticised for squeezing the river’s flow to the capital.

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