New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Union government assess the damage to the ecology of the Yamuna River and identify unauthorised industries that are polluting it in Delhi. The recommendations were tabled in Parliament Tuesday.
This comes after the new BJP government in Delhi set a target of 3 years to clean the river. During the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections, the BJP accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of failing to clean the river over the past 10 years and promised to revive it if it came to power.
In the report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources observed that the Centre has not conducted an ecological assessment of the stretch of the river that flows through Delhi, and the minimum concentration of Dissolved Oxygen is “generally observed NIL in Delhi stretch of river Yamuna except at Palla”.
Dissolved Oxygen (the amount of oxygen in water), which is required for the sustenance of life in the river and is an important indicator of water quality, should be over 4mg/l.
The committee, chaired by BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, reiterated the assessment “will be of great help in formulating the appropriate steps required to be taken to preserve the ecology of river”.
For the desired dissolved oxygen level (4mg/l) in the river, fresh water in the river should be available downstream of Wazirabad.
The committee recommended that the Centre should take measures to “persuade all Yamuna basin States to maintain sufficient amount of e-flow (environmental flow) for the overall health of the river”.
The recommendations were part of an action taken report on the committee’s 27th report, titled Review of Upper Yamuna River Cleaning Projects Up to Delhi and River Bed Management in Delhi, which was released last year.
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Combating effluents from unauthorised industries
The committee flagged that it had not received any data about the total number of unauthorised industries operating in Delhi.
Industrial effluents are one of the main factors contributing to the Yamuna pollution and the committee said that there was a need for “regulating these industries” and “treating the industrial effluents generated” by them.
The committee had been informed that the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) manages the 28 approved industrial areas in Delhi, of which, 17 approved industrial areas are already connected to 13 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs).
The remaining 11 approved industrial areas do not have CETPs as they are not water-polluting industrial areas, the committee was informed.
The committee said that a study “may be commissioned to assess the number of unauthorised industries functioning in Delhi so that comprehensive steps may be taken to combat the effluents discharged from these units and proactively decrease pollution of the river”.
Need to push for electric or CNG crematoriums
The committee also said that measures should be taken to discourage cremations on the banks of the river, and also states should be pushed to install electric or CNG facilities. It noted that there was no data on the extent of pollution in the river due to cremations carried out on its banks.
In its report last year, the committee had recommended that Yamuna-basin states “find ways to discourage rituals on the pyres built on the banks”. It also said that, if possible, cremation sites should be shifted away from the immediate periphery of the river’s banks.
“In view of the role played by the cremation process in contaminating the river Yamuna, the Committee reiterate that the Department not only commission a Yamuna-specific study but also explore ways including providing financial assistance to the States to establish electric/CNG furnaces,” the committee said in the report Tuesday.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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