Delhi HC Criticizes Government on Yamuna Pollution, Orders Chief Secretary to Act on Waterlogging Issues

Yamuna pollution: On Tuesday, the High Court criticized the Delhi Chief Secretary for presenting a negative image of the government instead of resorting to administrative measures to curb waterlogging, which was caused by the inaction of certain officials tasked with desilting of the city's drains.

In regard to controlling pollution in Yamuna river's water bodies by sewage and industrial units, the court reprimanded the Delhi government for having its STPs not functioning well adding that they could do very little as plants were drastically wrong with them.

"Something is drastically wrong. STPs are not working. Who is monitoring them? Yamuna is coming clean till Delhi then it gets highly polluted at ITO and Kashmiri Gate, ISBT. This is due to the industrial waste."

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"Who is monitoring unauthorised industrial units in Delhi? There cannot be so much toxicity in water," a Delhi High Court bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said.

There were two suo motu petitions dealing with the water logging issue in Delhi and with the rainwater harvesting and congestion in traffic particularly in monsoons and other times of the year in the national capital that the court initiated on its own.

It was also hearing petitions from a number of people in Delhi including some lawyers concerning the inundation of roads, the flooding of houses and offices, after rainfall because of the storm water and sewage drains being blocked.

Presenting the report, the Chief Secretary Dharmendra’s office gave a virtual presentation to the bench on the measures being undertaken regarding issues such as the desilting of drains and the action taken regarding unlicensed polluted industries in residential areas.

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To this the bench informed him that his subordinates should come out of the air-conditioned rooms and engage with the public to appreciate the situation because the improvement of water bodies projected in the report would be unfounded braggadocio.

"If so many steps are being taken, things should improve. Just see the photographs of Chhath Puja where women were performing puja in the water. See the amount of toxic foam. A woman is mistaking the foam in the water to be a shampoo. We all live in the city. We know exactly what it is.

"If you think the quality is improving, then good luck to you. You may be the only person who thinks so," the bench said.

In addition, it mentioned that the same Delhi government had already stated that Yamuna is extremely dirty and they cannot let people do Chhath puja on the banks.

There are countless people especially advocates who are here in the court insisting that no desilting work has been carried out in their regions.

"How come your data has so much variation with the ground level reality," the court asked.

"This is a rosy picture that your officers are painting. If that is the situation, there would have been no floods in Delhi this year. You can't be misleading the court and the public," it said.

The bench instructed the chief secretary, who was present via video conference during the proceedings, to take appropriate administrative measures and hold officials responsible for failing to achieve the desilting work within the allotted period during the particular year.

The court stated that an order would be made and a government report included in the order for it to be made public, and this matter was scheduled for a further hearing on 22nd November.

The lawyers for the petitioners have submitted that drainage systems in their locality have not been cleaned prior to the rains and even when some areas were cleared of sludge by the authorities, the sludge was left lying on the ground only to be washed back into the drain after the rain.

Some lawyers asserted that their offices within Defense Colony, Malviya Nagar and Maharani Bagh were inundated so badly that their computers and printers were damaged and furniture and refrigerators were floating.

The court further addressed the issue of flooding experienced in Kotla Mubarakpur and Garhi village.

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