NEW DELHI, –Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Shri Devender Yadav expressed surprise over the July report of pollution in Yamuna released by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), which notes that the high level of pollution in the Yamuna has increased in July, compared to March, which is not only a matter of grave concern but also exposes the hollow promises made by BJP’s Rekha Gupta government on cleaning Yamuna. He said that the Rekha Gupta government has only talked big about cleaning the Yamuna after assuming power in Delhi, but took no initiative in actually cleaning the toxic river as she has only mislead the people of Delhi by performing Yamuna Aarti.
Shri Devender Yadav said that BJP’s election promise of giving first priority to the cleaning of the Yamuna when it assumes power has been completely derailed after the report of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) came out, because according to the standards for clean water, biochemical oxygen (BOD) should be three milligram per litre or less and soluble oxygen (DO) should be five milligram per litre or more and faecal coliform (excreta, organic pollution) should be 500 MPN per 100 mg water, which becomes unusable when it is 2500 MPN.
Shri Devender Yadav said that the Rekha Gupta Government has been supplying polluted, sewage and organic chemical-laden water to around 3 crore people of Delhi to bely the BJP’s promise of providing potable tap water to every household in Delhi. He said that the Delhi Government has made a budget provision of Rs 9000 crore for cleaning the Yamuna and treatment of sewage, but in the last 6 months, no work has been done in the direction of cleaning the Yamuna or constructing new Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and repairing the faulty, existing plants.
Shri Devender Yadav said that BJP-ruled States, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are coming together to formulate an action plan to clean the polluted Yamuna, but first the Rekha Gupta Government should clean the 22km stretch of the Yamuna running through Delhi, which is the most polluted, while the construction of 12 proposed decentralized STPs is still hanging in suspense. He said that no concrete work has been done to realize the AMRUT 2.0 scheme (AMRUT, also known as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0, is a national urban water management scheme launched on October 1, 2021. It aims to make cities water secure and self-reliant by providing universal coverage of water supply through functional taps to all households in urban areas) whose 5-year deadline will expire this year. He said that as per the report, out of the total 37 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs), 26 STPs are not functioning and only 11 are functioning as per the standard set. He said that in the 22-km stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla barrage, 171 MGD of sewage directly falls into the Yamuna, which is a major cause of pollution in the river.
Shri Devender Yadav said that as per DPCC report of July 2025, per litre BOD level in Yamuna water is 11 in Wazirabad, 47 in ISBT bridge, 70 in ITO bridge, 74 in Nizamuddin bridge, 46 in Okhla barrage and 24 in Asgarpur, whereas per litre DO level is 4.4 in Palla, 3.4 in Wazirabad, zero in ISBT bridge, Nizamuddin bridge, Okhla barrage and 0.9 in Asgarpur, which is very alarming. He said that it was very shocking that faecal coliform near ITO barrage reached 92 lakh MPN per ML against 35 lakh in June last month and 43 lakh in February. Faecal coliform in Asgarpur reached 1.60 crore in February, which is 7.9 lakh in July.
Shri Devender Yadav said that the filth coming out of the houses and the silt in the drains are falling into the Yamuna without being treated and the amount of faecal coliform in the Yamuna is increasing alarmingly due to people defecating in the open on the banks of the river and the amount of faecal coliform near the ITO bridge due to the discharge of excreta into the river. He said that not only this, after checking the water samples in Janakpuri, the water being supplied to houses by the Delhi Jal Board has been found to be polluted, about which the NGT has complained to the Delhi Jal Board.
Shri Devender Yadav said that despite spending crores of rupees in the name of cleaning the toxic Yamuna by the previous Kejriwal Government and the BJP, the Rekha Gupta Government has failed to improve the quality of the Yamuna water. He asked how is it possible that the Rekha Gupta government will be able to run a cruise boat in the Yamuna by December 2025 when the water is highly polluted? He said that the cruise boat plan can attract tourists only when the river and the surrounding areas are clean, and water is clean and not otherwise.
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