Yamuna choked by pollution and political strife

Once revered as a sacred lifeline for northern India, the Yamuna River now stands as a grim reminder of administrative failure and political blame games.

- NEERAJ MOHAN

Despite multiple government action plans, court interventions, and thousands of crores spent in rejuvenation efforts, the stretch flowing through the land of Haryana and Delhi remains polluted.

The toxic mix of untreated sewage, industrial effluents, plastic waste, and declining water flow has left large parts of the river biologically dead.

What worsens the crisis is a deepening rift between the successive governments of Delhi and Haryana, both of which continue to accuse each other of polluting the river instead of finding common ground. Ground research suggests that untreated sewage from municipalities contributes to 80% of the pollution load in the river and causes foam formation.

Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all Yamuna states are functioning below their optimum utilisation capacity. However, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is taking a keen interest in making the holy river free from pollution and recently directed his officers to ensure that not even a single drop of polluted water flows into the river, which is seen as a significant step toward making the Yamuna free from pollution.

But tapping pollution in the Yamuna remains an uphill task for the authorities. As per the figures, Haryana has a total population of 92.4 lakh in the Yamuna catchment area, with a total sewage generation of 1,239 MLD. The figures revealed that the state was planning to increase the total number of STPs to 89 with a treatment capacity of 1,526 MLD in the Yamuna belt. But at present, there are a total of 85 STPs installed in the catchment of the river Yamuna with a capacity of 1,486.2 MLD.