Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta joined a cleanliness drive along the Yamuna at Haathi Ghat near ITO on Sunday, highlighting the volume of waste entering the river even as the government outlined measures to intercept sewage and clear drains.
Gupta participated in the drive with Cabinet colleagues, youth groups and members of social organisations. BJP leaders and workers, along with representatives of residents’ welfare societies, also took part in the activity, officials said.
During the drive, Gupta said she found large quantities of broken idols and other items used in worship discarded along the riverbank. Plastic waste was also present in substantial amounts, she said. The observations point to the challenge of managing waste at riverfront locations where religious practices, public access and civic sanitation overlap.
Gupta said everyone who has faith in the Yamuna has a responsibility to keep it clean. Her remarks placed the responsibility for maintaining the river not only on government agencies but also on residents, community groups and visitors using the riverbank.
The Delhi government is taking several steps to clean the Yamuna, according to the Chief Minister. These include tapping drain water before it reaches the river through decentralised sewerage treatment plants and desilting drains that carry water towards the Yamuna.
The proposed approach focuses on two separate but connected sources of pollution: waste deposited directly along the riverbank and untreated or inadequately treated water flowing through drains. The cleanliness drive addressed visible solid waste at Haathi Ghat, while the sewerage treatment and desilting measures described by Gupta are aimed at reducing pollution entering the river through the drainage network.
The event also brought political representatives, civic-minded residents and social organisations into a public cleanup activity. However, the government’s statement did not provide details on the number of decentralised sewerage treatment plants planned, the drains covered, project timelines, treatment capacity or the quantity of waste removed during Sunday’s drive.
The government’s next steps, as outlined by Gupta, are to continue efforts to tap drain water through decentralised treatment plants and desilt drains connected to the Yamuna. Further implementation details were not provided in the statement reported by officials.
