India News | NGT Chairperson, LG Jointly Inspect Najafgarh Drain Rejuvenation Work
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. National Green Tribunal chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena undertook a joint inspection of the cleaning and rejuvenation of the Najafgarh Drain on Saturday, with the NGT chief emphasising on the need to clean it at the earliest.
New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) National Green Tribunal chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena undertook a joint inspection of the cleaning and rejuvenation of the Najafgarh Drain on Saturday, with the NGT chief emphasising on the need to clean it at the earliest.
Justice Goel and Saxena, accompanied by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and other senior officers of various stakeholder departments and agencies, took a boat ride from Bharat Nagar (Ashok Vihar) to Timarpur along the drain and took stock of the cleaning operations, the Raj Niwas said in a statement.
After the inspection, Justice Goel expressed hope that efforts being made to rejuvenate the water body would fetch desirable results in terms of reducing pollution in Yamuna and revival of the Sahibi river, that the drain once was, it said.
Ruing the fact that persistent court monitoring and orders in the past had "fetched little results" in terms of cleaning of the Najafgarh Drain, the NGT chairperson asked the LG to ensure that "efforts being undertaken are taken to their logical conclusion in a time-bound manner," the statement said.
The LG assured him that "all the 122 feeder drains bringing sewage and silt into the Najafgarh drain will be trapped at the earliest, and no stone will be left unturned to ensure that the drain gets rejuvenated into its original avatar of a river, and stops polluting the Yamuna".
The NGT chairperson was informed that work on cleaning and rejuvenation of the 57-km drain is using the extremely cost-effective partial gravitational desilting technology and trapping of 32 feeder drains bringing in unfettered sewage and silt, in the first phase Timarpur-Bharat Nagar stretch, the statement said.
While the work of desilting and restoration of embankments from Wazirabad to Timarpur was completed in November end, cleaning on the 7.5-km stretch between Mall Road Bridge and Bharat Nagar too has been completed, it added.
"It may be noted that apathy and neglect on part of government departments and agencies over the decades have converted this thriving and treasured living water body into a stinking dead drain that apart from contributing maximum to the pollution of Yamuna, possess a constant health hazard to the people living in its vicinity.
"It also causes waterlogging in its catchment area due to its inability to carry water," the Raj Niwas statement said.
The drain has become an almost "stagnant reservoir of silt sewerage and sludge" with over 80 lakh tonnes of underwater solidified garbage or silt mounts, that has severely affected its flow and carrying capacity, the statement said.
"Efforts during the past couple of months have led to more than 50,000 tonnes of silt getting removed and efforts are on to totally desilt the water body in a time-bound manner.
"In addition, 27,000 tonnes of surface garbage or silt, mostly accumulated on the outer periphery of the drain have been removed and deposited on the banks," it added.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)