A fresh political war erupted in Delhi on Friday after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that all 37 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Delhi failed inspection tests, calling the BJP's recent claims of a "clean Yamuna" a publicity stunt. The BJP hit back, blaming the Arvind Kejriwal government's decade-long rule for the failures.
Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters, Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the BJP-led Delhi government of misleading people with "false celebrations" of a clean Yamuna.
"They boasted that Arvind Kejriwal could not clean the Yamuna in ten years, while they achieved it in just eight months," Bharadwaj said. "The reality behind their fake 'clean Yamuna' spectacle is already known to the entire world. What is truly shocking is the information obtained through RTI, which reveals that all 37 sewage treatment plants have failed the inspection."
'All 37 STPs Failed the Test'
Bharadwaj said that the RTI findings, based on a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) inspection, showed failure across all major STPs, including those in Akshardham, Coronation Pillar, Kondli, Keshopur, Okhla, Najafgarh, Rohini, Vasant Kunj, and Yamuna Vihar.
"Every single one of these STPs failed the test. This is a serious matter," he said, adding that the tests were conducted independently by the CPCB and not by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
According to Bharadwaj, the Centre ordered the CPCB's tests after allegedly finding irregularities in DJB's own reports.
"The CPCB's investigation revealed that all 37 plants failed. Even more alarming, in 36 of the 37 plants, the level of faecal coliform, essentially human waste, in the treated water was several hundred times higher than permissible limits," he said.
The AAP leader said that under the Kejriwal government, hundreds of unauthorised colonies were connected to sewer networks and efforts were made to ensure that only treated water meeting the "10 by 10" standard reached the river.
"The first and most crucial step in cleaning the Yamuna is ensuring that STPs function properly," he said. "When all STPs are failing, how can the BJP government claim to have cleaned the Yamuna? What they did was nothing more than political drama and a publicity stunt."
'Kejriwal Government Responsible For Failures'
Hitting back, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP was deflecting blame from its own record.
"If there is any shortcoming in the 37 sewage treatment plants, the responsibility lies with Arvind Kejriwal's 10-year government, not with the 8-month-old BJP government," Kapoor said.
He cited a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, claiming it was the AAP government that spent thousands of crores without results.
"If Saurabh Bharadwaj has the political courage, he should respond to the CSE report, which alleged that despite spending Rs 6,856 crore between 2015 and 2022 in the name of cleaning the Yamuna, the Kejriwal government failed to clean the river," Kapoor said.
Calling Bharadwaj's press conference a "politically frustrated reaction," Kapoor said the BJP government had already begun improving the condition of key drains.
"Politically frustrated by the visibly cleaner Yamuna waters and the successful Chhath Puja celebrations at the Yamuna ghats, Saurabh Bharadwaj today raised questions about the 37 sewage treatment plants as part of his daily baseless commentary," he said.
"In just eight months, the BJP government has brought qualitative improvements to the STPs installed at the Najafgarh and Shahdara drains, which are responsible for 84% of the Yamuna's pollution, and has made a good start toward cleaning the river," he added.
As both parties traded barbs, the Yamuna's pollution, and who's to blame for it, once again took centre stage in Delhi's political narrative.
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