Water Minister Parvesh Verma said Yamuna’s bacterial contamination dropped sharply this year, with major improvements at Nizamuddin, Okhla, and ITO.
He accused AAP of misleading the public and claimed no pollution reports were released during its tenure.
AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj countered, citing a DPCC report stating the river remains unfit even for bathing.
Citing data on faecal coliform bacteria, Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma stated on Saturday that the water quality of the Yamuna river was better than it was the previous year before Chhath.
Verma criticised the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a joint press conference with Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa for accusing the BJP government of causing pollution in the Yamuna during the Chhath festival.
According to Verma, on October 9 and October 20, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) gathered samples of Yamuna water from eight locations, including Palla, Wazirabad Barrage, Okhla Barrage, ITO, and Yamuna Canal, among others.
According to Verma, the concentration of faecal coliform bacteria in the Yamuna has decreased from 11 lakh units per 100 ml last year to 7,900 units per 100 ml near Nizamuddin this year.
Over the course of the year, the number at Palla decreased from 920 to 600, at Wazirabad from 16,000 to 800, and at ITO from 35,000 to 7,000, he said.
“They (the opposition) are baffled because our government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, is doing a lot of work, and women are praising the preparations being made for the celebration of Chhath,” the minister said.
According to Verma, water samples collected from ISBT also showed improvement with the bacterial count down to 8,000 this year from 28,000 in 2024.
It dropped to 7,900 from 11 lakh at Nizamuddin, to 2,700 from 18 lakh at Okhla, and to 1,600 from 22 lakh at Agra Canal, he said.
“AAP leaders, including its Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj, are raising the issue of Yamuna pollution, while the truth is that no DPCC reports on it were published during the AAP government’s rule,” he alleged.
AAP's Bharadwaj posted on X, quoting a DPCC report from October 23 that said the water in the Yamuna was "not even suitable for bathing" and included "human waste in alarming quantity."
The Haryana government, he further said, had diverted water from the Eastern Yamuna Canal for a week, which, once the diversion ceased, would increase pollution levels.
With PTI inputs.
