Clean Yamuna, make river water potable: CPS Khullar to officials

With the BJP back in power in Delhi, the Haryana Government has taken the lead step to clean the Yamuna, which became a big political issue during the elections in the national capital.

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Chief Principal Secretary (CPS) to the Chief Minister Rajesh Khullar on Saturday held a meeting of the officials concerned on the Yamuna Action Plan at the DC Camp office on Saturday and sought a detailed report. He also directed the officials to clean the Yamuna and maintain the parameters at Tajewala Head in Yamunanagar district, from where the river water is released up to the last point in Haryana.

The Yamuna enters Panipat from Rana Majra village. After covering a total 33 km up to Rakshera, it enters Sonepat district.

Khullar said approximately 11MLD (million liter per day) sewage is being discharged into drains without treatment from the city. The capacity of sewage treatment plants is more than 168.8 MLD, but the total discharge from the city is approximately 95 MLD. However, as per a report of the HSPCB, 70% of waste water reaches STPs, the remaining 31 per cent is being directly discharged into the drain. Around 11.5 MLD is discharged into drain number 1 while 20.11 MLD is discharged into drain number 2, which is a big cause of pollution in Yamuna.

Deputy Commissioner Virender Kumar Dahiya; MC Commissioner Dr Pankaj Yadav; Samalkha SDM Amit Kumar; XEN, Irrigation, Suresh Saini; and other officials were present in the meeting.

Khullar directed the officials to make the Yamuna water potable in the district limits and make all efforts to maintain its parameters -- biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), etc -- at the Tajewala Head.

Khullar asked the officials to send their detailed report to the headquarters by next week.

DC Dahiya said Karnal drain and drain number-1 mixed with the Yamuna at Khojkipur village of the district. “We have a plan to make three pond systems near the Khojkipur village to clean the drain water. With this system, around 50 per cent water would be cleaned,” the DC maintained.