Highlights:
- Yamuna Rivers clean itself after just 60 days of lockdown
- In 25 years the governments had spent over Rs. 5,000 crore on Yamuna cleaning projects
It has been 2 months since the 1st lockdown was imposed across the country and these 2 months of lockdown has done something to the Yamuna River what the governments could not do in 25 years and more than Rs. 5,000 crore in their hand.
As the industrial activities stopped and most of the other commercial activities paced down amid the pan India lockdown, the Yamuna River cleaned itself, allowing numerous India and migratory birds to flock to the waters.
One can now witness these Indian and migratory birds including the Grey Heron, Ibis and Storks feasting on fishes, which, too, can be seen swimming in the clear water of Yamuna River. Earlier River Ganga was also seen to have cleaned itself and many waterbodies were seen swimming in it. Dr Rajeev Chauhan, a conservation officer with the Wildlife Institute of India-Dehradun said, “I have been associated with the Yamuna Action Plan since the year 2000 and I have never seen the river this clean.
The level of pollution reduces further and its water becomes clearer near Etawah; here the water from Chambal river further dilutes the pollution. I am amazed at the effect the lockdown has had on all rivers,”. Dr Chauhan has been studying Yamuna river for the past 30 years.
With around 1,400 kilometres in length, Yamuna river flows through 7 states in India where industrial units dispose off of their effluents, mostly untreated, into its stream. Between Delhi and Panipat, Haryana, alone, more than 300 such units discharge industrial effluents directly into the Yamuna river, making it one of the most polluted in the country. The river picks up 80% if its pollutants from Agra, Delhi and Mathura alone.
A leading news agency wrote that a finding from the Delhi Pollution Committee showed that “in Delhi, compared to the pre-lockdown days, the river is now cleaner by around 33%. Additionally, the committee found that the water improved further downstream near Mathura.”
Diwan Singh, an environmental conservationist said, “The river has cleaned itself using its own biological capacity. Now, state governments need to ensure that industrial waste is not dumped into it again,”. Singh has been working on the revival of water bodies in Delhi, especially riven Yamuna.
