Start Yamuna project at the earliest: L-G

NEWDELHI:Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday asked Delhi Jal Board and researchers from University of Virginia to start work on the River Yamuna Project at the earliest possible and deliver results.

“Within six months, they have prepared this. I have not seen such a detailed plan for Yamuna in the past 40 years. We can work to a target of 3-4 months to work on one aspect of the project and show that it works. Then even skeptics will become believers,” Baijal said, after inaugurating an exhibition on ‘The River Yamuna Project’ on Wednesday at the Indian Habitat Centre.

According to the Delhi L-G, earlier too, lots of plans were chalked out but nothing concrete happened on the ground.

“We talked and talked. Now we have to act. Even Uttarakhand high court has recently declared Ganga and Yamuna as living entities, bestowing on them same legal rights as a person. We have to start implementation. I promise all the help from the Delhi Development Authority and Delhi government. You all should meet every 15-30 days and get it started,” he said.

The Delhi Jal Board, which has entered into a five-year research collaboration with the University of Virginia to clean Yamuna, in Phase I is focusing on the Najafgarh drain basin, the largest of three watersheds in Delhi with over 140 drains, followed by the Barapulla and Shahdara.

“This is a one-of-its-kind and one of the most ambitious projects to be carried out in the water sector in the country and is led by the Delhi Jal Board along with the department of irrigation and flood control as an important delivery partner. Under this project, sustainable bio-remediation technologies to clean all drains and water bodies will be used,” an official said.

The exhibition showcases the work completed during the last three years and “aims to be a catalyst for the urgent recovery of the Yamuna and its tributaries, building a publicly accessible body of information and expertise, and visions of what an alternative future could be”.

Teresa A. Sullivan, president, University of Virginia, said the project is expected to bring about a paradigm shift by using sustainable bio-remediation technologies to clean water and robust long-term management strategies to create city-level assets for all.