BackDelhi Assembly approves ₹1,028 crore for DJB, Yamuna river
The Delhi Assembly also approved additional grants of ₹100 crore for road works under the Mukhyamantri Sadak Yojana.
PremiumWith an aim to speed up work for cleaning the Yamuna river, the Delhi Assembly on Thursday approved a supplementary grant of ₹1,028 crore for the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the LG of trying to stop the work of cleaning the river.
Sisodia's statements were nothing but ‘habitual blatant lies’ aimed at protecting his government's abject incompetence and failure, a Raj Niwas official said as quoted by news agency PTI.
The minister also placed Supplementary Demand For Grants before the Delhi Assembly. He claimed that the funds to Delhi Jal Board were stopped despite the budget approval from the House.
"The Lt Governor made every possible effort to stop the work of cleaning Yamuna by putting pressure on the officers. Despite the approval of the budget from the House, the funds to Delhi Jal Board were stopped. No matter how hard BJP and LG try, the Delhi government will not stop the work of Delhiites," he added.
Citing data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), sources in the lieutenant governor's office has said that the pollution in the Yamuna river in Delhi has doubled in the last eight years of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
As per sources, in 2014, at Palla, where Yamuna enters Delhi, the pollution in the river, in terms of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), was within acceptable limits at a mere 2. When the river left Delhi at Okhla Barrage, its BOD load was 32 in 2014. However, in 2023, while the BOD load at Palla remains at 2, the same at Okhla has risen up to a staggering 56.
The Raj Niwas official said the current LG took over seven months back and since then, has taken concrete steps that have visibly started showing results in Najafgarh Drain and Yamuna.
“The deputy chief minister's statements were nothing but habitual blatant lies aimed at protecting his government's abject incompetence and failure, now that the NGT has exposed their contemptuous neglect of the Supreme court and Yamuna," the official said, PTI reported.
"The Deputy CM should have cited specific instances of LG stopping works of cleaning Yamuna. But, had did not, because nothing of this sort happened. He is lying through the teeth blatantly to cover his failure, which is their characteristic style. The Deputy CM should do better," he added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Assembly also approved additional grants of ₹100 crore for road works under the Mukhyamantri Sadak Yojana. The Public Works Department (PWD) got an additional grant of ₹800 crore for road maintenance, construction of additional classrooms, and re-modelling of hospitals. Grants worth ₹50 crore for the Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana and ₹75 crore for the SC-ST Welfare were also approved by the assembly.
(With PTI inputs)
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