New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) For cleaning the Yamuna, 33 projects have been sanctioned in Delhi and other states for the creation of a sewerage treatment capacity of 2,130 million litres per day (MLD) at a cost of Rs 5,911 crore, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.
Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary told Lok Sabha in a reply that the Delhi Government is working on several projects to augment sewage infrastructure and working with experts from Pune to conduct controlled dredging in the riverbed.
Some of the projects undertaken by the Delhi government include the rehabilitation of the existing three sewage treatment plants (STPs) at Kondli Phase II, Rithala Phase I, and Yamuna Vihar Phase II; upgradation and increasing capacity of existing STPs; construction of new STPs at Sonia Vihar and interceptor sewer projects.
The construction of a 564 MLD (124 MGD) Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Delhi is still under progress, the MoS said.
All the operational STPs of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) are being monitored by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) every month and analysis reports are available on its website, he said.
The DPCC issues communication with the DJB to meet prescribed standards on a regular basis, he said in reply to a question by Kalyan Banerjee.
Highlighting measures taken by the authorities for compliance with sewage treatment standards, the MoS said that the DJB has informed that each contract has the provision of penalty in case of non-achievement of guaranteed parameters of treated effluent and payment is withheld/recovered for non-compliance.
In case the agencies do not respond properly even after repeated communication there is a provision to blacklist/debar from DJB tendering. In the past, the DJB has acted against defaulting firms at various sites, he said.
Pointing to steps like controlled dredging in the riverbed along the stretch in Delhi, the MoS said the task is managed by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Government of Delhi. In this regard, the Delhi Government has taken expert services of the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune.
He said the Government of India (GoI) launched the Namami Gange Programme (NGP) in 2014-15 for the rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries, including Yamuna, for five years, up to March 2021 and the programme has been further extended to March 2026.
The 33 projects for cleaning the Yamuna have also been undertaken under NGP.
Some of these 33 projects which are still under progress include interception and diversion (I&D) with rehabilitation work in Agra; interception and diversion works in Muzaffarnagar; I&D and STP work for balance drains in Mathura; I&D and STP work in Chhata, Kosi, Vrindavan, Hathras, Saharanpur, Banat, Babri and Bantikhera, Thanabhawan and Shamli.
The tendering process is still on for I&D and STP works in Deoband, the MoS said.
–IANS
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