Key Points
Congress demands urgent Yamuna cleanup before launching cruise tourism
Pollution levels 6,400 times beyond permissible limits
BJP failing to deliver on election promises
Water quality threatens public health
He hit out at the government’s alleged attention-diverting announcements and said instead of indulging in gimmicks like “cruise tourism”, concrete steps should be taken to address pollution in the river.
He said the pollution level in the river was now 6,400 times higher than the maximum permissible limit, as detected by the Delhi Pollution Control Board.
Yadav wondered who would take a boat ride through the poisonous stretch of Yamuna in Delhi when breathing the noxious air near the river had become such a serious health hazard.
Raising the issue of water shortage, he said that many colonies in Delhi were being supplied polluted water which is not even fit for washing clothes, forcing the poor people to depend on the tanker mafia and bottled water for drinking.
He reminded the BJP government about its poll “guarantee” that it would get down to serious business immediately on coming to power to provide potable drinking water through the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) pipelines.
Yadav said that the BJP government has not fulfilled any of its election promises, delaying the implementation of all promises under one pretext or another.
Criticising the delay in cleaning the Yamuna, Yadav said when Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva took a dip in the dirty Yamuna to gain some pre-poll political publicity, people thought that the BJP would give priority to cleaning the Yamuna when it comes to power.
However, the BJP government too seems to have kept the cleaning of the river on the back burner like its predecessor (AAP), the Congress leader said.
Yadav said that the BJP government should not bluff the public by postponing all its election promises, and should take urgent steps to clean the toxic Yamuna, as air and water pollution has become the most serious health hazard for Delhiites.
