Aam Aadmi Party and BJP Governments creating deliberate hurdles to prevent Poorvanchalis from holding the Chhat Puja festival at the Yamuna River banks—Ch. Anil Kumar

NEW DELHI—Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Arvind Government’s double standards towards the people of Delhi, particularly Poorvanchalis, was exposed once again as the toxic Yamuna water, with just two days remaining for the Chhat Puja festival, will be a deterrent for the faithful to conduct the puja at the banks of the river. He said that some women devotees, who went to the Yamuna Ghats to check the water and venue, suffered infection from the polluted water. Ch. Anil Kumar said that if the Arvind Government was earnest about providing facilities to hold the Chhat Puja at the Chhat Ghats, it would have prevailed upon the Lt. Governor and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority to give permission to hold the festival at the Yamuna Chhat Ghats, and got the river banks cleaned up. He said that the Arvind Government put up a weak case before the DDMA, leading to the denial of permission to hold the Chhat Puja at the Yamuna Chhat Ghats.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Delhi Government has neither setup new sewage treatment plants, or enhanced the capacity of the existing ones, adding that, as a result, the existing plants were unable to treat the ammonia-contaminated, industrial pollutant water flowing from Haryana.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that Chief Minister Arvind, in his election manifesto, had promised to clean up the Yamuna and turn the water so clean that people would be able to drink directly from the river, but despite spending crores of rupees for Yamuna cleaning, water in the river has only turned more contaminated. Ch. Anil Kumar wanted to know where are those Aam Aadmi Party and BJP leaders who used to conduct ‘aarti’ on the Yamuna river, and promised to make the water crystal clear, not the like the present ammonia-laden water now?

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Delhi Government should have written to the Haryana Government days in advance to release fresh water into the river, to wash away the toxic water, but that was not done, to scuttle the Chhat Puja festival. Ch. Anil Kumar said that when Congress was in power in Delhi, it would ensure clean water in the Yamuna two-three days before the Chhat Puja.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that there seems to be a conspiracy between the Arvind Government and the BJP to prevent the Poorvanchalis from holding the Chhat Puja at the Yamuna river banks, but to mislead the people, an impression has been created that they were having a shadow boxing, blaming each other for the impasse.