New Delhi: The government is likely to give
its approval soon for the ambitious Rs 1,656 crore Yamuna
Action Plan-III, which is exclusively focused on Delhi, to
solve the problem caused by pollution in the river,
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said.
"The project is funded by the Japanese Government. We will
be getting the approval of the Union Cabinet in next couple of
weeks. Under the Yamuna Action Plan-III, the existing sewage
treatment network in Delhi will be modernised in a very big
way," he said.
Ramesh was talking to reporters here after a meeting with
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her Haryana
counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda on the measures to be taken
to clean the Yamuna.
In order to put an end to the daily controversy between
Delhi and Haryana on the issue of pollution of the Yamuna, he
said the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will install
continuous water quality monitoring stations at Palla and at
Badarpur.
"There will be continuous monitoring of water pollution at
Palla, where Yamuna enters Delhi from Haryana and there will
be similar monitoring at Badarpur where Yamuna flows from
Delhi back to into Haryana," Ramesh said.
The first one was already being installed in Wazirabad
today, the Minister said.
Ramesh said during his meeting with Hooda and Dikshit, it
was also decided to solve the problem caused by pollution in
the Yamuna at Panipat.
He said the sewage treatment capacity at Panipat was
insufficient and the effluent treatment plants are not working
to full capacity.
"There is common effluent treatment plant in Panipat.
Though 512 units have to be connected to that common effluent
treatment plant, only 35 have been connected so far," Ramesh
said.
He said the Environment Ministry will support further
expansion of sewage treatment capacity and effluent treatment
capacity if it is required at Panipat so that there is no
infiltration of waste water into the Yamuna when the river
flows from Haryana to Delhi.
"This will be funded by the MoEF as part of its national
river conservation programme. In next couple of week, this
proposal will be finalised," he added.
The Minister said 47 per cent of Delhi`s population is not
covered by any organised sewerage network and this situation
will continue till the completion of Yamuna Action Plan-III in
2015.
"That is the big challenge. We have 26 drains that are now
putting untreated sewerage directly into the river Yamuna.
Today we reviewed the progress. And I am afraid that this
situation will continue till the end of 2015," he said.
PTI
