NEW DELHI: The chairman of National Green Tribunal (NGT), Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, and lieutenant governor VK Saxena carried out a joint inspection of the cleaning operations at the Najafgarh drain on Saturday.Justice Goel — who took a boat ride along with Saxena, chief secretary Naresh Kumar and other senior officers from Ashok Vihar to Timarpur along the drain — was informed that the work on cleaning and rejuvenation of the 57km drain was going on in the first phase between Timarpur and Bharat Nagar.According to officials, Justice Goel asked Saxena to ensure that the efforts being made to reduce the pollution in the Yamuna are taken to their logical conclusion in a time-bound manner.The NGT chairperson, who rued that persistent court monitoring and orders had failed to clean the Najafgarh drain, appreciated the current efforts and expressed hope that the steps would also revive the Sahibi river, which has degraded into the drain. The LG assured him that all 122 feeder drains bringing sewage and silt into the Najafgarh drain would be trapped at the earliest and an all-out effort would be made to rejuvenate the drain back into its original form. While the work of desilting and restoration of embankments from Wazirabad to Timarpur was completed in November, further cleaning on a 7.5km stretch between Mall Road Bridge and Bharat Nagar is also over, said officials. Over the years, the Najafgarh drain has become one of the biggest sources of pollution to the Yamuna and has posed a constant health hazard to the people living in its vicinity, apart from causing waterlogging in the catchment area due to its inability to carry water. According to officials, the drain has become an almost stagnant reservoir of silt sewerage and sludge with over 80 lakh tonnes of underwater solidified silt mounts. Recent efforts have led to the removal of more than 50,000 tonnes of silt.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/ngt-chief-delhi-lg-vk-saxena-take-boat-ride-on-najafgarh-drain/articleshow/96653092.cms