The BJP government is planning to hire an agency to survey each drain that is not connected to the treatment system in Delhi. This is done to protect the Yamuna, which the BJP government is planning to clean by the end of this year. Based on the findings of the survey, these drains will be trapped to curb the flow of untreated water into the river Yamuna, according to senior officials. Cleaning the Yamuna River is one of the top priorities of the BJP government, as it was promised in the recently concluded assembly elections, where the party won by a majority.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah also held meetings on making Yamuna pollution-free in the past two months.

The government is also planning to reach out to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to assess the output of wastewater being released from sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the future. Officials also said that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is asked to prepare a plan and hire an agency to identify lacunae and disconnected drains of sewage to assess the entire network of civil lines in Delhi.

“The department concerned has directed to hire an agency by the end of this month. The process has begun and the survey will be completed by September… Based on the identified gaps, detailed project reports (DPR) will be prepared by project engineers. Project will be structured accordingly, and the estimated timeline for this is set for December this year,” said a senior official concerned with the matter.

CPCB Included

The CPCB will also conduct inspections to identify operational gaps within the network line of Delhi. “All existing STPs and their outfall will be inspected by CPCB to assess operational shortcomings. For this, a timeline has been set for July 2025. Following its report, the DJB will formulate an action plan… The target for the work is set for October this year,” further added. The Delhi Jal Board has been working on the Interceptor C project, which entails trapping all drains and diverting wastewater to the nearby STP instead of reaching river Yamuna and polluting it.

However, there are some large drains like the Najafgarh drain or the Shadara drain, which are difficult to tap or seal completely because of the massive volume of water inside them. “For such drains, solutions need to be considered such as tapping 26 out of 182 sub-drains and treating the remaining at their outlet,” read a government document concerned with the matter.