The images of the Yamuna river on Chhath puja reveal how committed is Kejriwal towards eradicating pollution
Recently, the Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal relaunched their much-touted Odd-even Scheme in order to curb the menace of air pollution rising in Delhi NCR. This scheme shall continue till 15th November, and the Delhi government expects the pollution to reduce considerably due to the same.
However, the images as accessed during the recently concluded festival of Chhath Puja in New Delhi presents a different picture altogether –
Yes, let that sink in. These images are from the Yamuna river near the Kalindi Kunj area of New Delhi. The way the women were performing their rituals for the Chhath in the polluted water wasn’t only atrocious, but also of grave concern for the denizens of Delhi NCR. When the situation is so grave, the measures of the Delhi government seems like using a broomstick to curb a dust storm.
Ever since he regained power in 2015, Arvind Kejriwal made tall claims about how he would change the face of the polluted Yamuna River. The truth, however, is that the situation of river Yamuna has turned from bad to worse. Kejriwal might blame the neighboring states of Haryana and Punjab for the rising air pollution, but he can’t pass the buck in the case of the polluted Yamuna, since the onus of maintaining the cleanliness of the river lies with the Delhi Government’s Water Ministry, which is ironically under Kejriwal himself. The images of Chhath Puja in New Delhi reveal as to how much committed has Kejriwal been to the cause of cleaning River Yamuna.
Now, what is the root cause? There are countless industries situated on the banks of river Yamuna, which dump their toxic waste into the same. This is not all; most of the pollutants in river Yamuna comprise discarded medicines [antibiotics], pesticides, detergents as the list goes on. Taking a dip in such a polluted and frothy river invites the risk of being inflicted with diseases like skin cancer, diabetes etc. Sadly, the Delhi government has taken no concrete steps towards the removal of such toxic waste. Forget making the water of river Yamuna drinkable, the current state of river Yamuna indicates the arrival of a major calamity.
The Yamuna Pollution Monitoring Committee which was formed this year as under the guidance of the National Green Tribunal has revealed that on a departmental level, nobody is willing to take responsibility for the cleanliness of river Yamuna. The report as circulated by the committee has said the Irrigation and Flood Control Department of Delhi Govt and the Delhi Jal Board have no synchronization with respect to cleaning river Yamuna.
The pollution of river Yamuna can be ascertained by the fact that a report of Central Pollution Central Board as published in 2016 revealed about the negligible presence of dissolved oxygen [which is necessary for aquatic animals]. A normal level of DO [dissolved oxygen] is considered to be 10.8, whereas the actual DO as accessed from Wazirabad and Okhla was just 1.1. Thanks to the polluted water, hundreds of nilgais had died in 2014.
The horrifying situation of river Yamuna reveals the magnitude of the mess Delhi NCR currently is in. However, what is worrying is that instead of finding a solution to the problem, the Delhi government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal is playing the politics of the worst kind imaginable. If the menace is not checked quick, it wouldn’t take long for Delhi to become Chernobyl in true terms.