NEW DELHI: One of the major interventions to keep the Yamuna clean was providing sewer connections from all unauthorised colonies. But 161 colonies in the O zone of the floodplain, with 2.3 lakh households, have been recently identified as unattached to a sewer network. This means that sewage from these areas continues to flow untreated into the river, contaminating its water.
Delhi Jal Board officials attributed the drawback in providing these colonies access to the sewer network to problems of getting no objection certificates from the various agencies involved. They are yet to provide approval for construction of sewage-related infrastructure.
In order to ensure that all residents are connected with the sewer network, the Mukhyamantri Muft Sewer Connection Yojna (MMSCY) was taken up in Nov 2019. Under this, efforts are being made by DJB to expand the existing network to cover all the households in the city.
Despite DJB working on the river’s cleaning on several fronts, the purification of the Yamuna remains a challenge. For ensuring 100% treatment of sewage, the state government has identified four focus areas, one of them being expanding the household sewer network.
Unauthorised constructions have slowly been finding their way into the river zone in the past two decades. As per Master Plan Delhi, 2021, the O zone comprises the entire floodplain along the 22-km stretch of the Yamuna in the city. No construction is allowed in this area and ownership of property in the zone is not permitted.
In the draft MPD 2041, which is yet to be notified, DDA has bifurcated the zone into Zone O-I and Zone O-II. While no construction will be permitted in Zone O-I, or the ‘river zone’, ‘regulated development’ will be allowed in Zone O-II.
After the approval of the 2041 MPD, officials hope work on cleaning the river will progress since it will take around a year to lay the sewerage after the various agencies grant the approvals for the project.
According to DJB, existing sewage treatment plants are unable to do their task in some places. Many slums have narrow lanes making it very challenging to install sewer connections. To resolve this problem, DJB has been working on decentralised STPs.
These are mostly planned for unauthorised colonies where there are constraints on land and other factors. There are an estimated 318 unauthorised colonies where DJB has assessed this requirement. Work is under way in some. In the rest, DJB is awaiting clearance from various agencies.
