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This story is from June 13, 2018

Gadkari pitches for Yamuna water front in Delhi, warns polluters

Warning strict action against industries and civic bodies for polluting the river Yamuna, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said he had even once asked water resources secretary to go for FIR against chief secretary of Haryana as the state failed to act against polluters.
Gadkari pitches for Yamuna water front in Delhi, warns polluters
Union minister Nitin Gadkari. (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Warning strict action against industries and civic bodies for polluting the river Yamuna, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said he had even once asked water resources secretary to go for FIR against chief secretary of Haryana as the state failed to act against polluters.
"He (water resources secretary) said he would talk to Haryana government.
I have also decided to call a meeting of the state government officials on the issue (Yamuna pollution). Strict action will be taken against anyone who is polluting Yamuna, Ganga and its tributaries," said Gadkari while giving certain details of his grand plan to develop river front in Delhi as a "world class garden" at an estimated cost of Rs 40,000 crore.
Gadkari's remarks on FIR against the chief secretary was in the context of taking action against whosoever is responsible for implementing river pollution abatement measures in the state. Though he didn't elaborate on it, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has powers to issue show cause notice against officials and polluters under existing laws.
The minister said the issue of developing Yamuna river front in Delhi would be discussed with the city lieutenant governor (LG). "Once the LG gives his approval, we (centre and city government) will develop the river front by partially funding it and awarding the works in PPP mode to private agencies which can spend Rs 40,000 crore for the project.
"It is my vision to develop a world class ecological and environment friendly river front park on 35 km stretch of river Yamuna in Delhi," said Gadkari while recalling his discussion on the issue with the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last month.
He was speaking here on the occasion of signing of a tripartite agreement between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam and Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd for developing India's first city-wide integrated sewage infrastructure for Mathura at an estimated cost of over Rs 437 crore on Hybrid Annuity-based mode.

A separate agreement was also signed between NMCG and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) for the reuse of two crore litres per day of treated sewage water by the latter's refinery in Mathura. The company is currently using water from the over stressed Yamuna. The IOCL will pay Rs 16 crore annually to the developer for using the treated water. The developer will use the money to operate and maintain sewage treatment plant and other sewerage network.
Sharing details of the projects on Yamuna and other tributaries, Gadkari said in addition to 14 ongoing projects (10 in Delhi, 2 in UP and 2 in Haryana – at Sonipat and Panipat), the ministry has identified 20 new towns on Yamuna and its tributaries (Hindon and Kali) for pollution abatement.
Ten of these towns are on Yamuna (Agra, Noida, Kalpi, Loni, Auriya, Kairana, Etawa, Bagpat, Tundla and Firozabad), four on Hindon (Saharanpur, Muazaffarnagar, Khora and Muradnagar) and six on Kali river (Meerut, Hapur, Deoband, Modinagar, Budhana and Autrauli).
The Mathura sewage project is special because it is the country's first Integrated Sewage Infrastructure project based on One City-One-Operator concept, which means that the project integrates building of new STPs and maintenance of the existing infrastructure under one operator for the whole city.
The components of the Mathura project include construction, operation, and maintenance of a 30 million liters per day (MLD) of STP in Masani, the work for which has been awarded to the Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd.
Other components of the project include development and rehabilitation of Masani sewerage infrastructure, upgradation and rehabilitation of the existing Masani STP with a capacity of 6.8 MLD, upgradation and rehabilitation of two existing STPs (14.5 MLD and 16 MLD) in the trans-Yamuna region of Mathura, leading to a total sewage treatment capacity of 67.3 MLD.
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About the Author
Vishwa Mohan

Vishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India’s position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.

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