New Delhi [India], October 20 (ANI): More than 35,000 people joined the ‘Chalo Yamuna’ campaign on October 18, cleaning 70 locations along the river and removing 76,755 kg of waste in one morning. Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh shared the details on Monday and announced that Union Home Minister Amit Shah would inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of 43 Delhi Jal Board projects worth Rs 8,941.22 crore on October 22.
The drive covered stretches from Soor Ghat in Wazirabad and Signature Bridge to Yamuna Bazar, ITO, Nizamuddin, Sarai Kale Khan and Chilla. Participants included 20,000 citizens, families and RWA members, 10,500 party workers, 2,500 students and 2,000 NGO volunteers.
Students from over 25 Delhi University colleges took part, including more than 400 from Deshbandhu College. The cleanup involved 26 JCBs, 19 tractor-trolleys, 24 boats, seven weed harvesters and trash skimmers, and 269 PWD maintenance vans.
More than 10 departments, including I&FC, PWD, MCD, DJB, DUSIB, Delhi Police and DDMA, worked together. Around seven tonnes of waste were collected from Usmanpur village and over 5.6 tonnes from Sonia Vihar.
The upcoming projects include a new 124 MGD sewage treatment plant (STP) at Okhla worth Rs 1,161 crore and upgrades to eight STPs costing Rs 1,041 crore. These upgrades will increase their combined capacity from 78.2 to 140.8 MGD and benefit 78.5 lakh people.
Another 29 decentralised STPs and sewage pumping stations, worth Rs 3,113.67 crore, will cover 358 unauthorised colonies and 113 villages with 36.29 lakh residents. The package also includes a 1,034-km sewer network worth Rs 1,691 crore, a 477 MLD water treatment plant at Chandrawal costing Rs 298.3 crore, and a 4.5-km Mundka trunk drain worth Rs 225.02 crore. The Chandrawal plant will replace facilities built in 1935 and 1955 and serve 22 lakh people.
Of the total package, 10 projects worth Rs 2,827.11 crore will be inaugurated, while foundation stones will be laid for 33 projects worth Rs 6,114.11 crore. Singh said the focus must be on stopping sewage from entering the Yamuna, rather than limiting efforts to cleaning its banks.
The minister also announced the ‘Birthday with Yamuna’ initiative, under which huts will be set up along the riverbank for people to celebrate their birthdays. He said he would celebrate his own birthday with the Yamuna on November 7 and appealed to Delhiites to join in, adding that the cleanliness drive was meant to grow into a sustained public movement. (ANI)
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