Haryana wants Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s personal intervention to save its two main water systems — the Yamuna and the Ghaggar — from certain death due to the millions of tonnes of toxic effluents being dumped into these rivers as they traverse Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Evidently encouraged by the tough stand taken by Union minister in Orissa, Maharashtra and other seemingly impossible situations, Haryana’s environment and forests minister Capt. Ajay Yadav made a special trip to Delhi to apprise Mr Ramesh of the threats to the health of the Yamuna and Ghaggar.
Before entering the territory of Delhi, the Yamuna’s waters are near pristine with a Biologocal Oxygen Demand of less than two milligrams per litre. But by the time the river re-enters Haryana at Badarpur, the effluents from 22 Delhi drains and a large drain from UP, raise its BOD level up to 12-30 milligrams against the maximum permissible limit of three milligrams per litre.
“The polluted Yamuna in turn sullies the waters of the Agra Canal and the Gurgaon Canal, the only source of drinking water in Mewat and Nuh areas thereby affecting population in Haryana,” Capt. Yadav said.
He accused both the Delhi government and the Centre of being callously reticent and refusing to respond to repeated complaints from Haryana. “Not having received any response from Delhi, a demi official letter dated January 29, 2009 was written by the then Haryana environment minister to the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter and issue appropriate directions to the Government of NCT, Delhi.
A demi official letter dated February 23, 2010 was also written to your goodself by me on this subject. Haryana government has not yet received any response to the above communications,” he told Mr Ramesh.