Bold plans afoot to restore Yamuna’s lost glory

The Delhi Government has placed the revival of the Yamuna river at the centre of its ambitious Rs 9,000-crore Budget for water and sanitation, aiming to restore the river’s lost glory and tackle decades of pollution and neglect.

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Presenting the Budget, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta called the Yamuna not just a river but the city’s cultural and historical lifeline, vowing to take decisive action to free it from sewage and industrial waste.

“The Yamuna has suffered for too long. Previous governments failed to act, allowing sewage, waste and neglect to take over. We are committed to making Yamuna clean again,” said Gupta.

For years, the river has been severely polluted due to untreated wastewater and illegal dumping, turning it into a drain rather than the lifeline it once was. The government plans to change this through a Rs 500-crore investment in 40 decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs), ensuring wastewater is treated at the source before it reaches the river.

Existing STPs will be upgraded to enhance efficiency, while Rs 250 crore has been allocated to intercept and treat polluted drains before they contaminate the Yamuna. Additionally, Rs 200 crore will go toward converting and intercepting the Najafgarh drain, one of the biggest polluters of the river.

To further aid cleanup efforts, Rs 40 crore has been set aside for advanced machinery, including trash skimmers, weed harvesters and dredging utilities, which will regularly remove waste and sludge from the river.

The Wazirabad trunk sewer will be renovated with Rs 10 crore, ensuring untreated sewage does not flow into the Yamuna. The government will also replace old sewer lines with an investment of Rs 250 crore, preventing leaks and blockages that contribute to river pollution.