The National Green Tribunal on Monday issued show cause notice to the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi government for failing to comply with its orders to clean river Yamuna.
The NGT had on Monday summoned the Delhi Chief Secretary in connection with the delay in the first phase of river Yamuna cleaning project and asked the Delhi chief secretary to explain why action should not be taken against him and others for it.
Taking note of the additional time taken in the process, the NGT had on October 17 asked the chief secretary, Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), CEO of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and top most officer of the project proponent, L and T, to appear before it on October 23 to explain the reasons of the delay.
While Phase-I of Yamuna cleaning project aims to lower the pollution levels in the Najafgarh and Delhi Gate drains, Phase-II deals with Shahdara, Barapullah and other drains.
During the proceedings, DDA had said that they had complied with the NGT orders and released Rs 37 crore as demanded by the DJB.
The green panel has maintained that pollution in Yamuna is of serious concern as it was highly contaminated by industrial effluents and sewage. It had also asked Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board to jointly conduct a study of water quality and the flow of Yamuna at the point it enters Haryana, and submit the list of industries located in the catchment area.
The green panel had noted that almost 67 per cent of the pollutants reaching Yamuna would be treated by the two sewage treatment plants (STP) located at Delhi Gate and Najafgarh under the first phase of the ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Project 2017’.
