To clean Ganga, govt focuses on Yamuna

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 2

Showing urgency to accomplish its promise to clean the Ganga in view of 2109 General Election, the NDA government has focused on cleaning the river’s second largest tributary — the Yamuna — which discharges filth into it.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a body of the Water Resources Ministry, has approved 10 big sewerage projects worth Rs 1,573 crore, including for Agra which is the nerve-centre of Yamuna’s pollution, and for Paonta town in Himachal.

The 1,376 km-long Yamuna originates from Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand, and passes through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh where it merges with the Ganges at Triveni Sangam (at Prayag in Allahabad) - a site for Kumbh Mela. Bulk of the projects approved are for Agra city for which a comprehensive sewerage solution has been planned.

“These projects are expected to drastically reduce pollution load from Agra city into Yamuna and consequently help to save Taj Mahal and improvement of the river water quality, ground water quality and overall aesthetics of the area,” a ministry official said. Agra is the political and cultural heartbeat of Western UP. Also, it is one of the most polluting centres of Yamuna which carry the city’s waste and drain them into the Ganga.

Besides, Kasgang and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and four cities in Bihar are other locations where the projects will be implemented.