Cleaning the Yamuna: Will Delhi’s new government succeed where others failed? Only 2 per cent of the Yamuna flows through urban Delhi, yet it holds over 80 per cent of the river’s pollution. Crores spent, little progress.
The Yamuna occupied centre stage in the campaigning during the recent Assembly election in Delhi. All the parties called attention to the extreme levels of pollution in the river, lamenting that the city’s lifeline had turned into a dark, toxic stream. They blamed each other for the problem, with each party making familiar promises to clean it.
Historically, the Yamuna was never Delhi’s water line. Ironically, its condition began to worsen after it became the city’s source of drinking water.
