The National Green Tribunal has slammed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) over pollution in Yamuna. It said that the water quality remains highly deteriorated as pollutants are still being discharged into the drains.
The green panel directed the Delhi Chief Secretary in coordination with the Chief Secretaries of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to personally monitor the progress of Yamuna cleaning by evolving effective administrative mechanism to handle grim situation caused by years of neglect.
The tribunal said water quality remains highly deteriorated as pollutants are still being discharged into the drains. Flood plains are not being made encroachment free, affecting the riverine ecology. Awareness programmes are inadequate.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said that YMC has noted huge gap in treatment of sewage and has recommended that all the drains in which untreated sewage is being discharged need to be intercepted and diverted so that the untreated sewage is not conveyed to the river.
Inspite of availability of huge funds, DJB is not working in a professional manner, as observed by the YMC, the bench said.
There is need to stop industries from discharging effluents by concerned statutory authorities, the tribunal said.
The tribunal also said that even though YMC had contributed in a big way and given a clear report to the authorities, the action taken by them has been found to be inadequate.
