12 More STPs to Treat Sewage Discharged into the Yamuna

How Sahibi mission will help clean Yamuna

- Paras Singh

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is working on developing 12 new sewage treatment plants in the Capital with the aim to reduce untreated sewage being dumped from the Najafgarh drain into the Yamuna river, officials said. The DJB has started work on a 49.5 mld (million litres per day) capacity wastewater treatment plant in southwest Delhi's Chhawla along with 11 units of smaller de-centralised STPs (DSTPs) and pumping stations.

A senior DJB official said the bids for the project have been invited. "Yamuna cannot be cleaned unless the Najafgarh drain is cleaned first. A series of DSTPs is to be developed to treat wastewater and Najafgarh basin is being prioritised. First set of bids for development of treatment plants for this basin have been invited and the project is likely to be awarded in the next one month. These projects will come with ten years of operation and maintenance clauses. We are treating this drain cleaning work under the Sahibi mission," the official added. Notably, Najafgarh drain is also referred to as erstwhile Sahibi river.